When did Willow cut her hair?

[This Year's Girl]

I'm watching season 1 with a friend and we can't remember - when did Willow cut her long hair? Was it a "thing" that people commented on and was explained, or did she just show up in a beginning of a season (3?) and have short hair? Or did she cut it little by little and people never noticed a big change?

 

[Lyri]

She cut it the August before the start of her Senior year of high school.

In 'Gingerbread', during the gathering at City Hall about the dead children, Willow's mother shows up and notices that Willow had cut her hair. Willow's reply was that it was a 'sudden whim she'd had...in August.'

There was no other mention about it, and it was still long during the final moments of 'Becoming PT2', when Buffy's watching them from afar.

There was no other explanation given, and I have no idea if it was something that the producers and/or writers wanted for Willow - like when they made her dye it black for Dark!Willow - or if Alyson Hannigan was just looking for a change.

 

[This Year's Girl]

Thanks for the answer [MENTION=6332]Lyri[/MENTION]! I think Willows haircut made her look a little more grown up, maybe that's what the producers were going for?

 

[Buffy Summers]

And probably showing that she was gaining more confidence by being friends with Buffy.

 

[JCoatsworth]

I want to mention that her hair in Season 2 is slightly shorter than her hair in Season 1. Then again, her hair in Season 3 is a lot shorter than in the seasons before that and in season 4 it's even shorter. I don't know if it has anything to do with Willow's character or not. I could imagine that Alyson Hannigan cut her hair between the seasons, because the producers didn't want her to change her appearance that much in the middle of a season.