Tuesday, March 23, 2010

What The...???

There are a heck of a lot of things nobody tells you about having a baby, and about being a woman in general. So, as a kindness to all those unsuspecting expectant mothers out there, allow me to let you in on a little secret.

When Bennett was about three months old, I started noticing these tiny little hairs all over the top of my head. I talked to some of my friends who also have small children about this discovery, and they all said it was normal.

It's called nursing hair.

When you are pregnant, your hair gets thicker from the prenatal vitamins and the hormones and stuff. I loved this stage. But, once the baby is born, different hormones take over and your hair starts to fall out. Not so much in love with this stage. Well, all the hair that has fallen out eventually starts trying to grow back, and that's the point you usually really start to notice it. I prefer to call this point the, "Unimaginably Ugly Stage That Lasts And Lasts And Makes You Want To Cover Your Head With A Paper Bag" stage. This is the stage I am in now, and it is a new battle every day.

For instance...I went to get my hair cut a few months ago, and before I sat down the lady asked me if there were any questions or concerns I had about my hair. I told her I had some pretty bad nursing hair, and she assured me that wouldn't be a problem. A few minutes later she ran her hands over my scalp and literally screamed "Oh my gosh! Whoa!" Of course, once she saw my face she immediately tried to backtrack, saying it wasn't that bad, and she could probably do something with it. Great.

Anyway, I have been trying to look on the bright side and do some creative things with it. Here are a few examples.

EXAMPLE #1:
A stylish hairdo with short bangs.

A stylish hairdo with short bangs, nursing style


EXAMPLE #2:
A retro cut from the 80's

A retro cut from the 80's, because your body freaked out.


EXAMPLE #3:
Attempting to look normal
Attempting to look normal, even though you know that as soon as there is a strong gust of wind your carefully combed-over hair will flay away and all will be revealed for what it is.

Well, what can you do? Oh, and there is some hope. Apparently, not everybody gets nursing hair, and there are different levels of ugliness. I was just lucky to get such an extreme case. Also, most people's hair grows back to normal within a year...unless your hair grows incredibly slowly. Which mine does. At this rate, I should be back to normal right around the time we are thinking about getting pregnant again. Wonderful.

For now, I will just try to enjoy the fact that I look like I could be the fifth member of KISS. Anybody want an autograph? My fashion consultants.

4 comments:

Heather Jones said...

holy crap haley! I don't think I have laughed that hard at a blog post before, hahahaha! I am still laughing. There is nothing better than a honest post about the horrible things that happen to you when you get pregnant, or in your case nursing. Oh and I will love you forever if you do your hair 80s style all the time. When I saw the picture I thought "surely she could not make her hair 80s" well you did a fantastic job! If it makes you feel better, when I was in labor I peed all over the doctors and nurses cause they forgot to give me a catheter, but peeing our pants and on people is nothing new for the four of us, so your hair wins!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! I was laughing sooo hard!!! Love the 80's hair

Lindsey said...

Oh my heck, Haley, I seriously almost peed my pants LITERALLY...the ole' bladder isn't what it used to be especially being pregnant with #2-another little known fact. I could not be more in love with the 80's hair!

Janell said...

Okay, Well i am with you on this. We can both bask in our ugly hair( even though yours does not look ugly to me and mine is worse, we can compare later) I am thinking of trying this stuff called hair revive herbal supplement. I had the same thing happen after Maddie, i told the lady cutting my hair that it had fallen out after the baby was born. No problem she said. Then all of a sudden i hear, Oh My Gosh! What happened to your hair. (Were you not listening! I mean Yes i love my hair likes this is the new fashion.I am mean have some discretion at least.) Didn't even try to hide it. So After Kendall i let it grow and grow so i could cut it and have it look better and not shock the stylist again. This time went to someone else that has done my hair and now i look like she took a weed wacker to my hair. Oh the joys of motherhood. Feel better ranting about it. Love you guys! Give Bennett lots of loves.