The Mom Hair Blues

Since becoming a mom, I have noticed that my visits to one of my favorite places ever, the salon, have really slowed down.  Before motherhood, I would find myself sitting in the chair every 6 - 8 weeks, getting my hair trimmed, highlighted, etc.  Sadly, once I was pregnant with Clare a few horrible things occurred.  The first was that Julie, my friend and stylist, moved to Ohio leaving me hormonal and without anyone to see me through the dark times.  The second was that my stick straight hair, manageable hair became super wavy and unruly.  The last was that I was left having to pay full price for services that I had become accustomed to receiving a significant discount on since I was willing to skip the salon and go to Julie's house, wine in tow.  I really had no idea what it actually would cost to maintain my mane.  Turns out, it costs a lot.

My first salon drought lasted 9 months.  After Julie left, I didn't want to waste my time trying to find a new trustworthy salon and stylist during pregnancy since my hair was so weird due to hormones.  After Clare was born, I realized that to set aside 3+ hours of my day would be difficult unless I wanted to take a pump to the salon with me and the idea of going to a salon with a breast pump really didn't appeal to me at all.  Once Clare was a little older and we could go longer periods of time without needing each other, the hunt for the new stylist began.  My first trip out was interesting.  I went to a very nice salon and they paired me with a woman who  within 5 minutes of starting work on my admittedly abundant hair, complained that this was going to take forever and she wanted to go home on time.  Didn't I realize that I needed to mention that my hair was "disgustingly" thick so they could add time and book properly?  Huh?  Needless to say, me and my "disgustingly" thick hair didn't visit her again.  My second attempt at finding a good stylist was successful and while my visits are more like once a quarter instead of once every 6 weeks, Jen gets that I want my hair thinned to the point of no return so that I can go longer periods of time between visits and I feel like I've gotten back into a routine.  

The last time I saw my trusty stylist was 10 days before I had Laurel - so nearly 5 months ago.  Jen wished me luck as she waved me out the door and we both knew that it would probably be a few months before I got back in.  Needless to say - it's time!  Laurel and I are less co-dependent, Jonathan is great a juggling the two girls while I'm out and my mane is seriously out of control.  So, today I called to make an appointment.  I told the receptionist all the parameters.  It needs to be a weekend so that Jonathan can watch the girls, morning would be nice, but I'll take whatever is open, my hair is thick so they need to calculate more time than normal because it always takes longer, blah, blah, blah.  She responded by telling me that the next opening is on the 10th at 10:30 - do I want it?  YES!  I exclaim and then I mention that I didn't realize that October 10th was a Saturday - boy am I excited I can get in so soon.  And then she informed me that no, it isn't October 10th, it's November 10th.  Huh?!?!?  She followed up by very excitedly telling me that if I can get a sitter, they have TONS of openings during the weekdays.  When I asked what the latest appt. time Jen takes is, she informed me it was 3:00.  Awesome.  That's not going to do it since most people who would be able to watch the girls work until at least 4:00.  Argh!

So, all my dear friends, while I was hopeful I would get to finally relieve you of looking at my lovely mom hair, it seems that you better get used to seeing this for the next 37 days...

Quick update - just as I was getting ready to publish this whiny post, the salon called and my stylist asked if I could come in at 4:45 next Thursday.  Now we're talking.  I called a neighbor/friend to see if she'd watch the girls for 45 minutes until Jonathan got home (shameless, I know) and needless to say - I'll be getting my hair fixed in 1 week!  Woo-hoo!!!