Ally is 11 years old, a straight "A" student, a softball player, and 'mother hen' to her little siblings. She is in her first year of middle school, and she is at an age where anything with bows or barettes is too 'babyish'. I have kept her hair at a manageable length for me, so every other year she gets a decent chop...maybe 3-5 inches. She doesnt want to cut her hair anymore, so I am going to respect that. Now we are working on gaining and retaining length, and coming up with styles that are easy on her sensitive scalp, but able to spend hours under a catcher's helmet and survive.