Monday, May 3, 2010

Hair 911!



Okay, I need advice. Hair advice. My hair is making me crazy right now. It is a horrible cut. I have to spend 30-40 minutes with a curling iron and mousse to beat it into reasonable submission. I don't have that kind of time on a daily basis.


I want to chop it all off like this:



or this



See, I need something that can be cute fast. I have 5 kids, a house to clean, meals to cook, 10 piano students to teach and a Mary Kay business to look after. I loved this cut. All my girlfriends loved it to and I got tons of compliments each day.

However, there is one person who didn't love it.

You guessed it, my DH. He is wishing for something like this:



This is 4 years ago and was an exceptionally good hair day for me.

The thing is. I'm probably 6-12 months away from that kind of length--if I start remembering to take my vitamins. What do I do between now and then?

Plus, with all the effort, will the DH dole out compliments generously to compensate for said effort? Probably not.

The other day he remarked that I looked "nice". Now, just to clarify, that remark made me much happy. Also, remarks of that nature happen about twice a month these days, sometimes weekly--which is a much higher frequency than the first 10 years of our marriage.

So I'm happy and, you know, grateful for the improvement in positive feedback.

And yet, can you picture me as I spent an hour on my hair that morning? before dashing off to deliver Mary Kay, grocery shop, and knock out my visiting teaching. Do you suppose I was thinking, "I sure hope my husband thinks I look 'nice' today."

"Nice" just doesn't quite make up for the near anxiety attack that I have every time I walk out the door, stressing out about my hair.

I realize that it is a little crazy that I am freaking out about my hair. But here's the thing. I have control over my hair. I can do stuff to it. I often do things to my hair when other things that are bothering me are beyond my control. --hence the fact that I always cut my hair about 2 weeks before I give birth. There is stuff going on in my life right now that I have no control over and it sucks. So instead of worrying over it, I am obsessing over my hair.

So what do you think? Cut it? Not cut it? Mousse it? Dye it? Perm it? To hell with it?

I obsessively await your ideas. Don't worry. I'm only checking the computer every 5 minutes. The rest of the time I am distracting myself with chocolate and avocados.

10 comments:

  1. ooohhh... DYE it!! THat ALWAYS made me feel better. Not permanent, but the wash out stuff that takes 3-6 months to wash out. Dye it super dark, then it will start washing out lighter, and it'll look like oyu're getting a LOT of sun because your hair will be getting lighter and lighter throughout the summer. But leave the length and let it grow out, just wear it up like a supermodel...

    That's just MHO. :-)

    BTW, i'll dye mine too if you want company. 'Course i could care less about my hair most days (so maybe i'm not so good for giving hair advice....) ;-)

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  2. You know me, I vote for dye. It's a good way to liven up things without chopping it all off (however it did look cute short!)

    Great photos!

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  3. Is one of the choices that you and I go and get our hair chopped off like that pic and tell our husbands to grow out their own hair if they want long hair?

    I feel like I'm in your boat. When my hair was long dh loved to touch it and told me how beautiful it was. Me? I hated it. I put it in buns, pony tails, anything to get it out.of.my.face!

    He loves our oldest daughter's hair and tells her how pretty it is way more often than he tells me mine is pretty (I cut mine to my collar bone now. I can't manage it long anymore.) He doesn't realize that he does it, and when I bring it up he tells me that he *does* like my hair. Hmph.

    Anyway, I too am tired of agonizing over hair that I hate. I cut it off to my shoulders in the spring and let it grow out a bit during the winter. It is my compromise.

    Good luck!

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  4. Wow, thanks for the quick response ladies:) I do have a box of the washout black hair dye that I haven't been brave enough to use because it isn't recommended for hair as light as mine.

    Perhaps I am brave enough now.

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  5. Melody, if my DH had loved to play with my hair and complimented me often on it, I probably would never have cut it. Especially not the second time last summer when it had grown back out to past my shoulders.

    I'll go get my hair cut with you anytime. That first pic of short hair was so easy to take care of. I could practically towel dry my hair. a little gel on the ends and whisk whisk whisk! cute and pretty.

    But here's the awful truth. No matter how much I tell myself that I don't care what the DH thinks, I LIE.

    I do care. Even when the positive feedback is few and far between, I live on it like a starving dog lives on scraps. So I probably won't cut it.

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  6. Not sure I would go black. Remember Anne of Green Gables? Black can go terribly wrong sometimes. :o) You might have more luck with a 0 degree cut though. Maybe layers aren't your friend. I learned sadly that I can't do layers for different reasons. It encourages the bush not the curls.
    Get a soft perm or something. Maybe you would like that but you would have to get a good one. A botched job in someones back kitchen can only end in tears. I know!

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  7. I'm in the same boat! I want to hack my hair super short right now. It's starting to get hot and my hair is just barely long enough for a ponytail and hair clips for all the straglers. I hate it, but Carson wants it longer. I've had it short for a few years now. I say cut it! I love getting my hair cut. Also, I like the look of the first short hair picture. super, wicked cute!

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  8. Oh man, I am DEFINITELY in the same boat as you. My hair is getting longer, but I wear a ponytail every day except Sundays. Nate says he likes my hair in a ponytail, but not all ponytails are created equal. Somedays they are poopsticks, rat nests, and occasionally lovely. I'll perm my hair with you--I loved it when I got a loose perm that one Thanksgiving before Jimmy went on his mission. I think your hair looks amazing short, but I know it's hard to cut it when the DH loves it (even if he doesn't say things as often as I'd like).

    My word verification is parot, so I think the blog wants you to dye your hair green with red tips. That'd be HOTT!!

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  9. just to leave my two cents worth... if your heart is pulling for long hair, then i say ditch the layers and do a long bob. google image it. it will look fantastic on you like the shorter cuts but it can be as long as to your shoulders. then if you're still itching for some more change, color or highlight too. i strongly urge you not to perm it because that is a hassle to grow out. oy ve! don't we all yearn for our dh's approval? nothing wrong with that!

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  10. so what have you decided to do? i should've remembered to ask recently...

    ha ha, my word verification is lamig, or LAME Mareena for not having thought to ask earlier!

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