I recently had a sweet baby. Among the many changes of adding a new one to our lives, came my new and much needed "mom haircut." Here are 7 reasons why I made the decision to chop off a good ten inches of my hair!
1. Postpartum Hair Loss
This was my number one reason for cutting my hair. Did you know that, on average, a woman loses about 100 hairs each day?! But while pregnant, hair is less likely to fall out because there is an increasing amount of “growing hair” than “resting hair”. So once baby comes out and hormones go back to normal, the resting hair rate gradually increases back to normal and results in a whole lot of hair loss to make up for the hormone changes. So I figured if I was going to have my hair falling out all over my house and shower drain, I might as well reduce the length of that hair which essentially cuts the hair loss in half? Right?2. Waking Up Baby
My hair was at the perfect length for resting right in my baby’s face. For a while she was little enough that she didn’t really fidget or try to get the hair out of her face, so I typically didn’t even realize it was bothering her. Only when she verbally protested, which still very rarely happened, did I know it was bugging her. And almost without fail, every time I went from a standing up position to a bending over position (like laying my baby down in her crib), it would wake her right up. It got to the point where I would sleep with my hair in a ponytail because the long hair got in the way of my nightly feeding sessions, as I was likely to wake her up while laying her back down.3. Hair Tourniquet
I used to joke that my babe was just as likely to have one of my hairs in her hand, as I was to have some of her poop on my hand! It’s gross, funny, and, really, pretty true! In all seriousness though, it can be dangerous and highly uncomfortable for hairs to get wrapped tightly around a baby’s extremities. “Hair tourniquets” are common in the postpartum hair loss phase and can often be hard to see, especially in the toes!4. Painful Pulling
Speaking of hair in hands: OUCH! I get so frustrated when my hair is pulled. Like unreasonably frustrated. Once my little girl started grabbing on, I knew it was time for my inevitable haircut. Seriously, I’m really impressed at how strong a baby’s grips is! Not to mention the time it takes to individually pry each finger off the trapped hair. Every time I see a mom with long beautiful hair, I wonder how they get around the painful hair pulling!5. Ain't Nobody Got Time for That
Washing, drying, and styling a lot of hair takes a good amount of time! I’m lucky to get a plain old shower, let alone time to wash what little hair I have now. Thinking about washing all of that long hair again leaves me wondering when I would have the time to do such a task! The last time I took a shower without a kid with me, or me opening the door every 45 seconds to see if I was imagining my baby’s cry or if she was indeed crying in the next room, is a mystery to me.6. Fresh Look
My baby girl was born with a FULL head of long, dark hair. If I were to have been keeping track of the amount of times I’ve been told, “look at that hair!” I’d easily be in the thousands by now. I joke that I cut my hair because her hair was getting too much attention and I needed in on the compliments too. All joking aside though, it has been a fun and fresh change, and it was nice to be pampered for an hour or so!7. Perfect Pregnancy Hair is Gone
There’s no way I’m alone in this, when I was pregnant my hair was AWESOME. It grew faster than ever, it was thick and looked healthy, and best of all it never got greasy. I basically washed it once a week because I felt like it, not because it was getting too oily. It was a pretty great set-up. Going from perfect hair to very much not perfect hair is a rude awakening! So getting rid of a good chunk of it seemed like a good idea.
