Mom Hair

Real talk

After you give birth to a child

However you give birth to that child

You will likely need a haircut

The weeks after having a newborn

Don’t allow much time for self maintenance 

Showers are fewer and far between

The lack of sleep can transform you very quickly into a haggard half crazed mess

Not to mention the raging hormonal changes

That can make your hair and skin dry like the sahara

Then greasy like a chip bag

Then dry like the Sahara again

I’m not big on high maintenance beauty on a good day

Much less when I’m juggling a newborn and a very active toddler

Mostly I don’t really worry too much about how I look

(Although I have managed a daily routine of at least tinted moisturizer and bronzer for most of my second pregnancy and postpartum recovery)

This minimalist mentality can seem healthy

And it is

A lack of vanity and etc

But sometimes vanity 

Can be a friend

The friend who has the guts to tell you over glass of wine

That you look like hell and you need to get your shit straight

Being a Mother 

I also believe it’s important to show my children how to have respect for themselves

How to not wear pajamas to the airport

How to have style and grace

Encourage individuality

And a sense of self

A large part of that is your haircut and your beauty routine

I remember as a child always being so enamored of my Mothers beauty rituals

She didn’t have too many

But the ones she had

Happened everyday 

No matter what

They even survived Chemo

I’ll never forget her pulling out a tiny makeup bag during her first hospital stay

And telling my quietly as she penciled in her thinning brows 

“A woman needs her warpaint”

My Mom always managed to look fly

I want my daughters to feel the same admiration for me

Not drop their head in shame at the homeless looking shambles I allowed myself to become

To that end

I decide that 5 weeks post c-section

Is the time for a trip to the beauty shop

Nothing too crazy

Some baby lights for summer

And to bring some warmth to my sometimes sallow complexion 

A tiny trim to keep the mane looking like an on purpose haircut

A color gloss to shine up Mommy's somewhat parched strands  

My friend Renae at Lucy Pop Salon

My friend Renae. A total Badass.

Is my Beauty Spirit Animal

She never doesn’t look totally great

So much so that Mommy makes sure to have a shower and even some eyeliner on before I brave the coolness that is Lucy Pop Salon

Not snooty or stuffy at all

Super bright and friendly

Everyone looks cooler than you

But in a way that makes you like them

I take my first post surgery trip up a staircase or two

To snap a before pic and get prepped for my super fresh hair

Before: Fuzzy, a bit bedraggled, and bangs that I may or may not have "trimmed" in a post pregnancy meltdown...with kitchen scissors.

We decide on a game plan

For today and also for the long haul

As in

How will this haircut look after having nothing done to it for 6 months

Renae knows me pretty well

Inspiration pics are scrolled through

And then down to the color room

I realize 

While I’m sitting with a head full of foil

Head full of foil

That I literally can’t remember the last time I sat down by myself

To read a magazine

Or do anything really

I almost feel like an imposter 

Outside of the house with the real people

No stroller

No baby stuffed under my shirt

Just me and the other child free ladies

Sipping cucumber water and glazing over the airbrushed visages of overpaid celebrities

These people don't count. They all look pretty ridiculous.

Somehow it’s important though

I know we go on and on about “real” beauty

That’s an ideal I stand behind

I love to scroll through 1970's photoshoots on Pinterest 

Just to look at all the tummy and thighs on the models

But we also need something to strive for

Something to inspire

For me it’s the super unattainable bleach blond perfection

That is Michelle Williams in any Louis Vuitton ad

Michell Williams and her perfect perfect hair.

I will never have that hair

But it makes me look for the hair I can have

The best me

The me that maybe lives in France for part of the year

The me that tries….just enough

When the foils come out 

The gloss is shampooed out

The dead ends lay scattered on the floor

And the hairdryer cools

Then there she is

Me

A Mother

A Muse

A Multitakser 

Looking pretty fly

Back to being Mommy....Just looking a lot better while doing it.