It's been a boring six months for One Direction fans. The group's members have remained mostly quiet on social media following their final public appearance together, so when Harry Styles posted a photo to Instagram last Friday (May 6) indicating he'd finally cropped his long hair, it understandably sparked an instant panic. Fans scoured both the Internet and London's streets for visual evidence of Harry's new hair until it appeared, at long last, that photo proof had materialized online.

It hadn't, of course -- the picture circulating on Twitter and Tumblr was of former X Factor UK hopeful Ellis Lacy, who posted a Snapchat face swap image to Twitter as a joke, likely forgetting how gullible the 1D fandom can be. Most disappointing, however, was how so many fans latched onto this photo as truth, failing to realize Harry would never make this sartorial decision for himself:

While Harry has yet to publicly reveal his new 'do, Directioners should be happy to hear he's donated his locks (rife with split-ends, based on the above image) to the Little Princess Trust, a UK-based organization that provides wigs to children who have lost their hair to cancer treatments.

Fans, meanwhile, remain desperate for photos of Harry's new short hair, which they may not get a glimpse of until he begins filming for the upcoming Christopher Nolan World War II drama Dunkirk. Check out some pleading tweets below.

Photos of One Direction Through the Years

More From PopCrush