I swapped hair with a stranger and they disappeared

I (33M)  live in Australia and today I messed up by swapping hair with someone on  the internet. A bit of background about me, I’ve always loved long hair  since I was a kid. I had a dream that I swapped hair with a friend from  school and another time ours got so long we were running around like  hamsters in a ball made out of our own hair. I used to also play with my  cousin’s hair as a kid. Another thing about me is my hair used to be  red, not vibrant red (unless it was cut short) but a darker red. As I’ve  gotten older it's turned more brown. This more so explains why I did  what I did.

It started when I was on a forum talking about  transformations when I saw a picture of this woman (they/them) with long  vibrant red hair. As it was a transformation forum and I like hair, I  made a comment about stealing it or swapping with them. I was just being  playful and to my surprise they told me to go ahead.

I got quite  a shock the next day when my hair was a copy of the person in the  photo. It was so thick and long, going past my shoulders. It was also  rather healthy. It was fun at first, though I did look a little funny in  the mirror with it being so long. At least it didn’t look too out of  place with my reddish eyebrows and freckled skin. I spent the day just  stroking it with my hands, twirling it around my fingers and trying hair  flips.

It was fun to have for the day but I didn’t think I could  maintain it, so I messaged the person and asked to swap back. I didn’t  get a reply. I figured the time zones were probably the issue and went  to sleep with it. Like I said I live in Australia and it was summer  time, sleeping with that much hair was not comfortable. And I have a  tendency to drool in my sleep. Pretty much just one night of having it  and the next morning it was a mess. I didn’t have a hairbrush so I had  to use my comb to tidy it as best as possible.

I also work in a  kitchen and a hairnet would unusually do. But I had no idea how to style  it and had no hair ties or clips to tidy it up. Fortunately one of the  waitresses was able to help me out, though I did get funny looks by  everyone for suddenly having long hair.

I’ve since looked up  YouTube videos and styling guides, as well as gotten myself the  necessary products to take care of it. But I’m still not good at doing  it. The best I can do is put it in a loose ponytail that needs  correcting an hour later. And the heat… it’s so unbearable with the  heat. Not to mention the weight of it after a shower or how long it  takes to dry.

Had I known I’d be stuck with it for this long I  wouldn’t have said anything. I’m not good at maintaining it and it’s  starting to show. I’ve tried finding the owner and swapping back but I  still haven’t heard back from them. So should I keep taking care of it  or should I cut it short to a manageable level?

Edit:

-We only swapped the hair on our head, all other body hair is still the same.

-One  of the transformations talked about being her roommate’s body pillow?  They post pretty sporadically. I wouldn’t have thought that was real  before but I’ve got someone else’s hair on my head. So yes it’s possible  they have been transformed.

Update:

I did as some of you  suggested, which was to wait two months, after that to consider it mine.  And I toughed it out. Well those 2 months were grueling but I did my  best to take care of the hair while I had it. I ended up cutting it  short a couple of days ago. I could’ve gotten a bob cut or something but  being a styled cut it was easier to get it shaved. That was a big  mistake.

It turns out the person who I joked with wasn’t the  person who swapped our hair, it was their roommate and the two of them  transform each other all the time. I just so happened to be part of  their latest transformation. The roommate had transformed the person  who’s hair I was borrowing into an inanimate object (they didn’t tell me  what) and they have conditions or timers placed on transformations. The  condition placed on the swap was that I’d keep it for three months or  until I made a major alteration to it, like having it shaved off.

The  inanimate condition was as long as I had their hair. So while they were  brought out of their inanimate form early, they weren’t too pleased I  had cut their hair off. So to make up for it I’ve agreed to undergo a  transformation until their hair grows back.