Mom Hair

I remember randomly coming across some women's blog one day, soon after getting married, and well before becoming a mom.

This blogger had boasted in a post about how she did NOT have mom hair.

In my youth, I didn't stop to admit that I never really considered "mom-hair" outside of maybe like the phenomenon when a new mom chops her hair off. But I did stop to wrongfully judge her hair as "so-not-cool-I-don't-know-why-she-is-bragging."
And maybe that's a good case to show you don't do yourself any favors when you brag, cause it leaves you are wide open for criticism.
BUT anyway, that's so not the point of this post.

My point is, I have since learned that there is something about being a mom that really kills your hair.

I did not realize that pregnancy hair is destined to fill up your bathtub drain for months on end, after you give birth (3 months after -- approximately.)

And that, as that hair fell out, my hair was becoming thinner than it had ever been or I ever thought it would be (since all of it was now in my drain pipe.)



I remember being a kid and hearing my second cousin, who had just had a baby, talk about how her feet were bigger and her hair was different. As a sevenish-year-old that all sounded like the coolest stuff ever -- being a grown up but still growing...awesome! Having hair that changes...awesome! She told me how some women's hair gets curly after it wasn't. Or turns brown after having been blonde. I remember excitedly telling her that was the coolest thing in the world and I hope it happened to me!!!!
Cut to being 27 and I no longer felt that way. The curly hair I had once spent years praying would turn straight, but had since learned to love (and love a lot) was now turning straight! But it wasn't straight-straight. But it wasn't curly. It was just flat on top and big on the bottom. And messy looking no matter what.

THEN
Add in the fact that oh...yeah....when I don't get enough sleep and I have 5 mins tops to shower and get dressed (before my baby insisted I pick her up)....I really just didn't even want to try to style my hair or do makeup. (And besides, you know I'm not leaving the house yet...like I want to try to breastfeed out of the house -- me and that boppy, the non-latching baby, and the "stunning outfits" I have to dawn on my postpartum figure that doesn't fit into any of my clothes or any bra sizes known to man...errr woman.)
But I had it in my head that I for some reason was competing with Hollywood mom's getting "caught" by paparazzi. So I felt like I should try.
(Note: Don't get in that mind frame...its dumb.)

So...yeah...anyway... mom hair:
Its not a fact of "giving up" like I had supposed wrongly before I got there.
Its like a force of nature, you don't get a say in.

But don't dispare.
You aren't bound to grossness.
There are ways to help.
And by the way...its just a stage of life...don't freak out....your babies will get older and you will have time to style again. You haven't fallen into shambles before your time.


Clearly this hair salvation is not a one size fits all solution time.
Everyone has different hair to start with.
So if you are expecting, I'd suggest you spend some time figuring out ways to do your hair in 5 mins or less (preferably 3 or less really.) Because then you'll have the ninja mom skills you need when your baby says "NOT HAIR TIME>>>MEEE TIME!!!!"

But I was just gonna share a few of the things that worked well for me.

I was gonna do pictures....but who am I kidding. I'm not that cool. I'm doing good to accomplish these things, I don't have it together enough to photograph the evidence. (And I'm also scared to see them in "print" --- they may not be as pulled together as I think they are.)


My first solution after having Jasmine was the sock bun.

I found this BEFORE pinterest existed. I just googled "ways to do hair over night."
I was showering at night and wanted to just get up in the morning and be ready.
(And by ready I mean, not hate walking by the mirror.)
This was an awesome solution for my not-really-curly-definetly-not-straight postpartum hair.
This type of hair trick is now all over pinterest done by many a lady....and the sock bun even has some "as seen on tv" gadgets instead of socks out there.
But I thought I'd pay homage the the girl who helped my mom-life out quite a bit by using her video.

This is who showed me how to do the bun.

And the fact that it makes curls.

I had layers at the time so I needed to do two buns.

I'd wash my hair at night, dry it with the blow dryer till it was just a pinch damp.

Then I would put my hair half up, and bun up that part. Then I would put the bottom half in a pony tail and bun that.

Its really easy to sleep on. I'd take it out in the morning, and worked really great for me.

I felt much more pulled together.

This time around I cut my hair off after Baby #2 because I finally got around to my goal of donating my hair.

So for a long time there wasn't much to be done to it. (My curly hair isn't always good short -- but lucky for me..I've matured a lot and didn't care if I looked like a hot mess. :) )

Last night I tried the head band curls

That worked well for my medium length hair. It's also nice because the underneath of my hair is still short from my cut and its reaches that.

When I took it out this morning I was like "Woah I look awesome."

However....when I went back by the mirror it had mellowed into just ok.

Which is definitely better than gross, but I wish I could figure out to to make it stay the way it was.

Other than that...

I really like putting my hair up.

These twisty spin pins are awesome for buns. BUT they also are great for all sorts of random updos.


I've been liking doing a do sort of like this

via

and securing the twist by screwing those spin pins up into the twist. And into the bun.
I really like that look on me lately. (But mine is no where near as polished as this one -- I'm usually into messy looks anyway -- which just happens to work well with this stage of life too! ha!)
And its actually really fast.
I just kinda roll my hair towards my head (I do both sides) (But I do like the bin to the side like this) and put a ponytail holder at the base. Then use the twisty pin to keep the roll in place. Then kinda blob the bun over on itself and twirl a pin into that.

Also these twisty combs were great for a french twist look when my hair was shorter. It was one of the only ways I could get my hair up at first. And I still like doing it that way now too.

via

(This isn't the prettiest photo -- but it shows the idea well.)

I feel pretty polished with this look.

I was lucky enough to find both these types of hair gadgets at the dollar store! But they normally have them at Target and the like for a bit more cash.

I bought two packs of the spin pins (which means I have 4 pins) and that is enough for me. (But I kinda kick myself for not also grabbing a pack of the mini ones too because sometimes the regular size is too long and sticks out.)

And I bought 3 of the twisty combs to keep my short layers in check, but two usually cuts it for me now.

So yeah... just a few thoughts on ways I use to not feel so hair "bla" when small ones taking up all my time.

Edit in: Oh wait I forgot one important thing: DYI Dry Shampoo --- See Here for details.

And here is something to help with the postpartum baby hair regrowth.