Mom Hair

I have a new theory on Mom Hair -- the haircuts that new moms get within months of having children.  Conventional wisdom suggests that moms do this because they are too busy to style long hair, but when you think about it long hair can be pulled up into a ponytail.  Short hair requires styling every day -- even just to go to the grocery store.

I believe that the true root cause of Mom Hair is hormones!   Now, I'm not talking about mood swing hormones  (though they might be the last straw that actually get us to work a hair appointment into our crazy schedule). I'm talking about the crazy hormones that make all of our hair start falling out around 3 to 4 months.  I honestly have lost enough hair to carpet our house 3 times over.  It's horrible.  It's very difficult not to feel like a bad mother when you pick up your brand new baby, and he's holding a fur ball of long red hair!

I thought that losing the hair was the worst of it, so back in June I went and had about 3 to 4 inches cut off the back of my hair, because the longest layer had gotten so thin and stringy.  This worked for a while and seemed like a perfect solution.  I could still pull my hair up in a ponytail and Jason still had his long hair.  Little did I know, the worst was yet to come.

About two weeks ago all of the hairs that had fallen out started growing back in.  It's bizarre!  My head is covered in spikey little baby-hairs.  They poke out when I try to do a ponytail.  They stick up like a rooster tail at my part. They are horrible!  Why did only one of my mom friends mention this to me?  When Carmen told me about it last year, I figured it was a rare occurence since no one else had mentioned it.  I was totally unprepared for the reality of it.  What do you do when even ponytails don't work??

About a week ago I finally got around to reading my September issue of Parents magazine and found a section on Mom haircuts.  Desperate for a solution for my stringy, spikey mess, I found a cut that I thought would work.  This morning I assured Jason that it would look cuter (aka longer) on me than it did on Jenny McCarthy, and he begrudingly told me that he was fine with whatever I did.  I knew he didn't mean it, but I was desperate.

So, I did it.  This morning I got my Mom Hair.  I think it's the shortest my hair has been since Jason and I started dating.  I texted him a picture from the car and he said he liked it.  Granted, we haven't seen what it looks like when I try to style it, but I'm hoping that chopping off another 3 inches of hair, getting bangs, and buying  2 oz of Bb Brilliantine for $18 will make my hair thicker and the little spikey hairs blend in sooner.

All I have to say is that Mom Hair resulting form laziness on the mom's part is a myth.  The true cause is hormones, just like everything else.

Mom Hair

(as styled by Adrienne)