On Friday I did something drastic:
It was time. But why is hair such a big deal? Ahhh! I just want it out of my face and comfy. And I want to look cute and feminine with less than 5 minutes of work. Yes, that's a lot to ask, but it IS possible! I just know it is. When I grew out my hair after my 2012 pixie cut I hoped to grow it out even longer than I did. But I love the idea of long hair more than the reality: it's heavy and always in my face. Why have long hair if all I do is wear it in a boring uncomfy ponytail? My hair wasn't even all that long, but it was driving me crazy. Last week I was talking to my sister in law Steph about it and she said "so why is your hair still long?" Why indeed, I asked myself. Then I made an appointment at the salon.
My Pinterest inspiration styles
Some Pinterest research revealed two likely options. I wanted my hair off my neck, but I wanted some length in the front so I could do some hairstyles if I wanted to. That's what I missed when I had my super-short pixie cut--being able to do something to my hair. Yes I realize the paradox that is my ideal hair. Long enough to do but short enough to stay out of my way. Is that possible? I'm still experimenting to find out.
On Friday at 11am I loaded the girls into the van and brought them to the salon. Amber sat impressively quietly in the stroller with the binky in her mouth, watching my hair fall to the floor while Rose sat in a chair drawing pictures. Later Rose started dancing around the salon, unable to resist the wall-to-wall mirror and spunky country music playing on the radio. I love her free spirit!
I showed my Pinterest pictures to the hair cutting girl and she went to town cutting off swaths upon swaths of my hair. It all went fine until she finished and started styling my hair. As usual, she POOFED my hair UP: hairspray, teasing, gelling, you name it, she did it till my hair felt a mile high. When I walked across the street to the car I was so embarrassed at how huge my hair was! It was so overly coiffed that I couldn't really tell if I liked the underlying haircut until I got home and washed the gunky glue out of it. That's when I realized just how short my hair really was. Short and...odd looking, like a mushroom top. AHHH! I thought after taking the short plunge once any other short haircut would be a piece of cake! But no, this time was just as terrifying and stressful as the last.
Left: the awkward poof--pictures do not do it justice! Right--after I ran my fingers through the poof repeatedly on the drive home. I thought this looked fine but it was not worth the gallons of serum and sprays it took to make it stay like that. I try to use as little hair goop as possible.
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| Ehh, the mushroom. It was weirder in person. |
When I still didn't like my hair after I washed it and dried it myself, I called my hair girl and asked if I could come back. So we got back into the van and drove the 1.5 miles to the salon again, put Amber in the stroller, and walked back into the salon for take two, a scant 20 minutes after we left. I had the mushroom thinned down and after that it looked much better--but WAY shorter than my original plans. Yikes!
Much better. Also: short!
Hair is stressful! All weekend I experimented with my reduced hair and finally decided that the best style at this stage in the game is a headband. I got myself a nice wide headband and dug out a couple of old ones from my pixie-growing-out days.
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| Headband: ok, I can do this. |
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| One headband to rule them all: I got this triple-threat athletic headband a few years ago but it never really worked for me...until now! My run was wisp-free bliss this morning. |
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| A simple clip back works alright when my head is tired of headbands. |
My poor husband has been so patient with me during this ordeal, listening to my stressed, hairy, circular monologues and dutifully telling me I'm still pretty. What a man!
Also: over the past three days I have taken enough selfies to last a lifetime. Enough!
Here we go again, short hair.
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