What They Didn’t Tell You to Expect New Moms Episode 1: HAIR

I'd like to file this under "things they didn't tell you that would happen after you have a baby".  Hair… things.  All the weird hair THINGS that happen when you're pregnant and then after the baby is born.  Right now I'm having major hair issues-- it's falling out in clumps!  It's EVERYWHERE! My hair, it’s everywhere.  [♫…Screaming infidelities, taking its wear… ♫, anyone? J]

They say that you don't shed much at all while pregnant (remember those luscious locks? Ooh-la-la, babycakes!), but then in about the 4^th or 5th month after birth your body tries to make up for all that extra hair and it starts a shed-a-thon.  It's depressing (really depressing--"I'm going to go bald!"), alarming (really alarming-- "is this more than normal???"), and DANGEROUS in my case.  I have mid length hair.  It gets all over me, the bed, the floor, the bathroom and THE BABY. Ever heard of a hair tourniquet? That's when a strand of hair gets wound around a baby's finger or toe, and if you have a boy, his little bits-and-pieces.  It can cut off circulation to the appendage and be very painful to the tot.  It happened to my brother (his pinky) and my hairdresser’s daughter (one of her fingers).  So I know it's not one of those 1 in a million-zillion "could happens" that makes even the most rational of moms start throwing out lunchmeat.  It DOES happen.  A sick hair irony: it's the one time in life that you need to watch out for hair around your kid, but also the time when your hair is falling out in handfuls!!! Ahhh!! Why?! No, no, NOOOOO!!!

This brings me to the other hair oddity worth mention.  I don’t know about you, but during pregnancy I got all these weird hairs (3 or 4) growing in places they never had before—like out of my neck!  I’d have to check every morning to make sure to pluck if needed.  I couldn’t be leaving the house lookin’ like a beastly-hairy-wooglar every day!  I figured once the baby was out, these crazy hairs would die off.  Nope.  I still have to do a daily hairy-wooglar check.  Why couldn’t these be included in the super shed? MAKES NO SENSE! I’ll have more freakin’ hair growing out of my neck than my head!! WOOOOOOGLAR!!! L

Anyway, I have decided to chop off all of my hair.  I was initially just playing with the idea, but wondered if just keeping it up all the time would suffice.  After all, I did plan on letting it grow out long again.  But yesterday (days after I picked my topic for this blog post), it happened.  After bathtime, I found a hair 'down there'.  It wasn't wound tight or anything, but if I hadn't caught it during the mom inspection... Who knows?! L  So the hair is gone (well, will be gone hopefully by next weekend).  I'm going all the way pixie (Ginnifer Goodwin pixie!) .  Sorry, Hubs, wifey is going to look like a boy for a while.  I don’t care.  I always figured new moms cut their hair because it was easier to manage, and harder for the tot to grab and YAAANK!  And maybe they do, but in my case it’s to make sure I keep my little fella safe. J Whatever it takes, right mommas? 

 What has been your experience with hair and motherhood? Did you end up getting the mommy cut or could you wait it out?