There comes a time in most women’s real lives where long hair really doesn’t look right any more. As a teen, my hair was so long that I could pretty much have tucked it into the waistband of my jeans. As time progressed, it got shorter…just a bit…so that the Ella of my avatar had hair that was fairly accurate to RL. I could certainly keep a small ponytail. But it sometimes looks a bit ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ (to utilise a phrase popular in England), that is, an older women still trying to look young and, sometimes failing.

I do like to maintain an avatar that kind of reflects RL. It’s never going to be perfect, given the limitations of SL, but I strive to make it something that’s relatively true.

As I’ll be 40 in a couple of years I decided that I maybe needed to consider a newer look for the second half of my life.

Well….I’ve only been and gone and done it! Reached that point in RL where shorter hair is something that had to be done. And as it’s the school holidays, a time for getting things done, a trip to the opticians as well for an eye test. New glasses were required, and thus I’ve lost the little ‘John Lennon’ type glasses I’ve worn in RL and SL for a number of years, to be replaced with what was, years ago in the UK, historically known as ‘National Health Glasses’. These were referred to disparagingly, as something only poor children wore. If some of you around the world think ‘Buddy Holly’, with the thick, black frames, well, that is very much the historical style of ‘national health glasses’. Oddly enough, Raybans Wayfarer were always somehow considered cool, while similarly chunky framed spectacles were incredibly unfashionable. Nowadays they’re considered to be very cool.

1950s rock & roller Buddy Holly wearing what most UK people would recognise as ‘national health’ type frames. Uncool for decades, and now very much ‘in’.

I didn’t choose heavy frames because they were cool. I chose them because, as they’re very cool, they’re about the only style on offer in my rural opticians!

So…new eyewear picked, we headed down to my hairdressers where I opted for a fairly radical hairstyle. No, a very radical hairstyle. In real life, it’s not quite as harsh as this Argrace cut (intended for male avatars) but it’s as close as I could manage. My son said ‘You don’t look like Mummy’. My daughter said ‘Waaaaahhhhh!’ 🙂 My husband said ‘Mmmmmm!’ I’m not sure if that’s a ‘sexy’ mmmmm, or a pensive, undecided mmmmm.

Anyway, SL must continue to reflect RL, so the new Ella is here. I do think that in RL I won’t be just so harsh with a haircut again, and my avi will change again to adopt a softer, slightly longer cut, just not quite as long as before. Or, who knows, I may just grow into this style, learn to like it and keep it.

In the meantime, it’s a whole new Ella who you might encounter in SL.

Ella

PS. My RL ears and neck are cold! 🙂