I seem to know a handful of new moms or second time moms that are all within around the six month or so time frame. Is it just me or does anyone else notice this to be true?
They all seem to have the same haircut. It's a hot haircut, don't get me wrong. I had this haircut too. At around that same six month or so time frame. Coincidence?
My husband is almost bald. (but as my best friend describes him; bald AND HOT). He shaves his head and while that is a popular style among men, my husband is among the few that can really pull it off. He has a beautifully shaped head. He won't let me post pictures of him here but he looks a lot like him. So much so that my mother in law recently gave me a photo and held it out to my son who exclaimed PAPA! at the sight of it. Although to be fair, he does that at the sight of the Mr. Clean bottle too.
So hair is not a big deal in my house. My husband doesn't miss it, doesn't wish he had it and honestly, I kind of envy him. He wakes up looking exactly the same as he did when he went to bed. He always looks good. I can not say the same.
Like most women, I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. It's about 70 percent love and 30 percent hate and that 30 is only there because it costs a lot to keep it even somewhat presentable. It's thick and wiry and wavy in spots and the most boring dishwater blond you can imagine. So I need a good conditioner and pomade and in the summer, hair spray. I need highlights and regular cuts so my ends don't splinter into a million bits. I need a diffuser, a hair dryer that meets a certain minimum wattage and a hair dresser who has some experience with unruly hair like mine. As much as I like to think I'm low maintenance, my hair is seriously HIGH MAINTENANCE. In bold.
Which would be an easy explanation why I and maybe others cut their hair off after a new baby arrives, but I don't think it's that simple. My sense of self is strongly tied to my hair. I envy women with cute, short, sassy, stylish hair. I've tried to be that but it's just not me. The shorter my hair goes the more unpredictable it becomes. I've wondered, am I trying to hold onto my youth by refusing to go short again? It's not likely since I didn't have long hair in my teens and early twenties.
When I cut my hair off after becoming a mom it was much more of a statement. I had CHANGED. Everything had changed. Making that outward transition had everything to do with a reflection of the new persona I felt I had inhabited. The fact that I could get ready in ten minutes was a bonus.
As life began to feel more normal and the momentum returned to a stage that was less intense, my hair slowly grew out back to more what it was before and has been like that ever since.
Did you do the mom cut? Share your hair raising stories.
(Please. I should ask nicely. I've become very demanding. More on that later.)
