I got my hair done, it was a big day!

My hair...yikes.

All of my close friends will tell you...I do not have great hair. In fact I can almost guarantee that if asked to make a list of all of my positive attributes not one of them would write, "has beautiful hair!". Although, these ladies that I speak of are all clever and quite witty, I wouldn't put it past any of them to write something like, "does the best she can with her hair...sometimes."

This has been a ROUGH few months for the hair. Genetically I am totally screwed. I was born with baby fine hair that is also very thin. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that a chin length bob serves me pretty well. After I gave birth to Lily I had a terrible experience at a salon and as a result went almost two years without a hair cut. My hair was longer than it has ever been and not a strand thicker. It didn't look terrible but it didn't look particularly healthy either. Most days I threw it in a sloppy pony tail and called it good. When I finally did get it cut I felt much more like myself.

The post is about to become overrun with terrible selfies, you have been warned.

A few weeks later I chopped it all off 5.8.13

At it's longest 4.24.13

After my initial cut and color in May I decided that there was no way I was ever going to go so long again without taking care of my hair situation. Pregnancy has not been kind to my poor hair. It falls out and breaks and when it grows back in it is spiky and totally unmanageable...and as of this past year, 110% of my new hair growth is gray. Awesome. Oh hey, did I mention I have been pregnant 27 of the last 45 months?? Not a single day of that has been beneficial to my hair. I definitely do not mean to sounds as if I resent my pregnancies, more just pointing out that for some of us pregnancy is not a magical time for gorgeous locks like the books might have you believe.

I had my hair cut and colored in September when I knew for sure that I was not pregnant. I told the stylist that we were trying to get pregnant and that I would like a color that would hide the gray but also wouldn't look terrible if I had to go a few months without having it done. For some reason she thought that meant giving me highlights much lighter than my natural hair color. For the past month I have worn my hair pulled up because I couldn't stand the dark roots!
(I am not at all happy with the pictures, my old iphone camera just looks terrible compared to the iphone 5 pics everyone else posts!)

At long last I decided that I am close enough to the end of my first trimester that I felt comfortable getting my hair colored and cut today. Added bonus we live in Maine now and the woman who has been cutting my hair since middle school is still working at a salon near by. I think she did a great job with the color, hides most of the grays and feels like me :) The cut was really just a trim, I think next time I will go an inch shorter. 

I think the moral of the story is that today was overdue. I have been telling Matt for weeks that I feel like I am going through an ugly phase. The reality for me is that first trimester is hard on my looks. I do not glow. I look tired and pale. I get breakouts on my chin and along my hairline. I get addition dark spots, as if being fully freckled wasn't enough. My hair is even more limp and thin looking...and this time I desperately needed to have it colored pretty much from day one. If I am not careful it starts to take a toll on my day to day attitude. In general I would say that I am very comfortable and happy with my appearance. I am no super model but I think I am pretty in a 'girl next door' sort of way. I don't typically wear much makeup but will usually swipe on some mascara if I am leaving the house. With a mostly carefree attitude, (which is not to be confused with an 'I don't care attitude') it is easy for me to neglect the little things, like getting my brows done or having my hair trimmed, and before too long I start to skip the mascara and settle on a pony tail every day. The trick is making time to take care of the little things before I get to my "ugly phase".  One of the reasons I am so grateful to be living near family again is that it is no longer an issue of finding the time...I just have to get in the habit of taking the time. 

Today I got my hair done, it was a big day!