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Poor College Student?

Can I just say that my winter break felt so incredibly short?! I so enjoyed my time home with family and friends, relaxing and watching my favorite TV shows, no stress about upcoming assignments, and back in the gym that I’m used to. Being home as a college student (at least for me) is a mix of happy/sad emotions. Happy because I’m with my family and I love them but sad because there’s no avoiding the fact that in a few short years, I won’t be going back to my house for college breaks anymore. Before I know it, I’ll be living on my own and won’t be surrounded by my parents, siblings, and pets when I go home….I guess those thoughts are just my gentle reminder to not take the time you have with family for granted.

On a happier note, I did something weird over break. Some people go on vacation, travel to other states, or get jobs over Christmas break, but not me. I sold my hair. Yep, sold it. I’ve been asked by several people how one even goes about finding information about how to do that, so I thought I would share my experience and pictures from the whole thing.

The idea that I could sell my hair actually came from a teammate. She was holding onto my ponytail one time and casually made a comment that I could probably sell several “bundles” of hair and make quite a bit of good money off of it. I’m a college student so obviously the idea of some extra cash sounds great, as it does to almost everyone I’d assume. I pondered that idea a little bit, but I wasn’t quite sure I was ready to cut my hair off yet. I knew that I would probably have to cut off quite a bit in order to sell it, and I didn’t know how short I was willing to go. My previous encounters with short hair haven’t been the best, might I add.

Finals week came and left and I realized that I hadn’t talked to my teammate about it anymore. The more I thought about it (and the more I sat on my hair, got it caught in the door, hit people in the face with it), the more I realized that I was ready. I was ready to cut my hair. I looked up some YouTube videos (because YouTube has everything) and watched a few girls share their experiences with it and also looked up several places that you could donate hair. For a while, I thought I would go the donation route, but the more research I did, the more I thought my hair had a better chance of being used if I sold it to someone directly instead of donating.

I decided to go ahead and do a little more research about a website that had popped up several times: hairsellon.com. After a bit of research, I learned that you had to pay for an ad (differing amounts for differing days that the ad would show up on the website) and it was pretty much as simple as that. I looked up a hair price calculator first to see how much my hair would probably sell for. I had to input hair color, texture, length I was willing to cut off, and if it was virgin or not; virgin hair is hair that has not been chemically altered and some only consider it virgin if heat has never been used on it. I got the estimated selling price and decided I would bump it up for my listing price.

I ended up buying a 60-day listing ad for $15. I entered my asking price, the title of my ad, and a short description along with pictures of my hair. Also, it’s important to note that if you decide to sell your hair you should never use your real identity. I made up a fake name, email, and PayPal account under that name just to ensure my real identity wasn’t given to anyone on the website.

Within 3 hours of posting the ad, I had several inquiries. I was asked to do all sorts of different hairstyles and got weird photo and video requests. Thankfully my mom and sister were very patient with helping get those videos and pictures. About 3 days after I posted the ad, I got an offer. I countered but the emailer never responded. About a week later, I decided I wanted to cut my hair before I went to school. I was still getting several inquires but wasn’t getting serious offers. I decided to lower my price. I cut my asking price in half and set my cut date for the 2nd of January and immediatly got an offer. However, the offer was good if I cut 20 inches off instead of the 17 I had listed. I went through my emails and sent an email to the people who had been interested but hadn’t yet responded to my last email, telling them that I had an offer and planned on taking it unless they wanted to offer because they had emailed me first.

I felt very businesswomenesque (is that a word?) as I corresponded back and forth trying to get the most money I could while still being able to cut my hair before I went back to school. The night before I cut my hair, one of my earlier correspondents sent back a better offer. It was higher than my reduced asking price, but the buyer wouldn’t be able to pay me until Friday. I was weary of being scammed but I was ready to cut my hair off. Also, the transaction was occuring through PayPal to protect both myself and the buyer, and I wouldn’t be shipping my hair until the money showed up in PayPal. I accepted.

The next morning (morning of my hair cut) the buyer sent me all the shipping information and details of how they would like the hair cut and packaged. At 12:30, I went to get my hair cut. With the combined efforts of my mom and hairdresser, my hair was pulled into a ponytail and measured 22 inches. I allowed an extra 2 inches because there was definitely some dead ends that wouldn’t be usable for the buyer. My hairdresser started to cut my ponytail off, but couldn’t get the whole thing in one cut because it was too thick. So, she cut layer by layer. With every layer I could feel my head getting lighter and that was the weirdest feeling ever! Pretty soon, she was holding my ponytail in front of me and I was staring in the mirror at my hair that was now above my shoulders.

Flash forward to January 4th. My buyer sent me the money (plus extra for shipping) in PayPal and I shipped my hair out that morning. Talk about weird, watching yourself put your own hair in the mailbox…

All in all, the whole process (for me) took around 2 weeks! I got my hair cut and shipped before I went back to college and I’m super happy with the new cut that I now have. Based on this experience, I would definitely reccommend selling your hair; it was a very positive experience for me. Plus, I have a little extra money which makes me a happy college student!

As my mom liked to tell me, “Selling hair is a lot more convenient than selling plasma.”

Mid-Term Evaluations: What is College Really Like?

Hello and welcome back to The Grow Up Project! Us college students have been getting hit with midterms the past few weeks, and I thought that this would be a great time in the semester to point out the differences I see between college and high school. I’ve put together a list of 5 things that stand out to me at this  point in college.

My First Year Experience Class (also known as the McGilley House) won the first house competition-trivia!

  1. Meetings: College is all about meetings. I know I’ve said it before because I was amazed at the amount of meetings that I have to go to. Meetings for my volleyball team (on top of practice), weekly student government meetings, professors want to meet with students outside of class. If you want to talk to someone who is not a student while in college, you have to schedule a meeting.
  2. Tests: I have had all of 1 test (max) per class this semester. ONE. I’m scheduled to have about three total tests in most of my classes, including the final. It’s weird not having a test after every chapter or unit like happens a lot in high school.
  3. Teachers: I don’t know about you, but most of my high school teachers didn’t have a PhD. Almost all of my college professors do. And surprisingly, these people are honestly very lenient. They take attendance at my school, but not at most bigger institutions. They almost always let us out of class early (there’s a few exceptions, of course). A lot of my professors are hilarious, too.  The thing that I like best about the professors at my school is that they care. One of my teammates was going on a visit to a different college this week, and my theology professor called (yes, like on the phone) her to try to convince her to stay.  That’s dedication.
  4. Living Conditions: Okay duh Reagan. But hear me out. Yes, clearly I’m in a completely different place than I would be at home, but it still feels like home to me. I feel like I live in a giant apartment building where I know all my neighbors. Where we hang out and watch scary movies in the lounge. Where we have the loud side of the hallway and the quiet side. Where there’s music playing at almost all hours of the day. Living in the dorms is actually pretty fun if you make it that way. That’s the thing about college, it is what you make it.

    My house won the second competition, too! We Escaped!
  5. The People: At my little school in Kansas, we have a lot of people from California. The first few weeks, our dorm hosted several meet and greet opportunities and a lot of people showed up. People from California repeatedly told me that people from Kansas were “so nice”. That we weren’t super judgy or materialistic. Now, despite what some may  be thinking, I actually agree with them. And my college showcases that well. I have met some of the most amazing people here on campus. People are really nice because everyone is in the same boat. At the beginning, no one knows each other, then the friend groups form, but for some reason college students are extremely open to meeting new people and trying new things. It’s honestly a great atmosphere.
  6. BONUS–The Homesickness: I am only 45ish minutes from home. But I have friends who are 2, 3, 4+ hours away. If I get homesick, I know they must, too. Going away to college has its appeal, until you’re there. It is weird being “removed” from your old life. I  notice how much I’m missing when I do go home. My siblings are growing up, my pets are getting older, and my high school has changed a ton. You take for granted all of that when you are right in the midst of it. But when you’re gone, even for just a few weeks, a lot does change. And goshdangit, it is really hard to shop for presents for people you aren’t around all the time!

College so far has been all it’s cracked up to be. I love the people here, classes aren’t bad at all (right now), and this is for sure one of the best experiences of my life.

I also want to let y’all in on a little secret. Well, I’ll give a hint.  A few of my friends and I had an idea over breakfast for dinner (at 11pm). It involves cameras. Stay tuned next week for the big reveal!

 

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