2009. The Year of the Hair.

So, if you've talked to me for any length of time in the past year. You've heard about Eli. You've probably also heard about my hair. (Have I already posted about this?)

Confession: For the past few years, I've driven 2 hours one way to get my hair done. In my defense, one of my best friends was doing my hair. So we also got to hang out and catch up. I'd often schedule my appointment so that I could spend the night with her. Good, quality time with my friend.

After we came home from Ethiopia, Ben told me that I probably needed to find someone a little closer. We had a 14 month old little boy that needed me. Spending 4 hours in the car wasn't a good use of my time. I agreed with Ben, but was still sad about it. I have pretty difficult hair (it's really coarse and thick) and have had a lot of trouble finding someone who can handle my hair.

About a month after we came home, we had the big Baby Dedication at our church. I (stupidly) decided that I needed to get my hair done before the big event and made an appointment for the Friday before. I went to a lady several people had recommended. I told her, 'just a trim and color please'. After a couple of hours, she turned my chair around to show me my new 'do. I thanked her and went out the door...and called my friend in tears. I had to leave her a voicemail.

I went home and when I walked in the door Ben said "it looks like she cut your hair with a weedeater". Honesty. It can be a good thing. He wanted to take a picture. I wouldn't let him. I went into the bathroom to see if there was anything I could do about my hair. Ben walked in and snapped a picture. This is the only picture of the haircut. If you'll notice, from the front it appears that my hair is above my shoulders. In the back, you'll see that it's below my shoulders. A longish mullet some might say.

My friend (and former hairdresser) called me back that evening laughing hysterically. She finds the humor in a lot of things - and that is one of the reasons I love her so much! :) She offered to drive two hours to my house to fix my hair. This was the finished product.

Pretty cute, right? I felt pretty sassy. However, I just can't leave well enough alone.

Ben liked it so much that he told me I should try going even shorter. I went back to my beloved friend and told her that I was going to go short. She told me no. She said I would hate it. I assured her that was what I wanted to do. So, she obliged.

She was right. I pretty much hated it after I had to fix it the first time. Contrary to popular belief, shorter hair isn't easier. You have to actually fix it every day. You can't just throw it back in a ponytail. With a little boy that needed me to hold him all the time, my hair wasn't getting fixed. Ever. And I have a lot of cowlicks (is that a hick word? I don't know what the proper terminology is.) This causes my hair to stick up majorly at my crown and in the front. With longer hair, it weighs down these imperfections and you can't tell as much. With short hair, I was pretty much looking like I had bedhead every single day. Kind of like my entire childhood.

This was my childhood hair. It was short by my own doing. I apparently had an obsession with cutting it. But this is my hair. Fixed.

So, after my hair finally started growing out from the short haircut I requested in March, I decided I couldn't keep up with being blonde anymore. It's too time consuming. (Oh, another confession: I'm not a natural blonde. *GASP*)

I decided to dye it myself. With a box from Target.

That's me, second from the right. It's not bad right? Well, it wasn't bad the first time. The second time it kind of turned red. I decided to go back to blonde. I couldn't get used to being a brunette. Or redhead.

So here I am. Blonde and still growing out my hair.

If you want to see my hair when it looks cute, check out the right side. Profile only. If you look at me head on, it's no good.

In reality, this is what it looks like. The back. Oh, the back:

And, the left side. Very scarecrow-ish looking. Appropriate though for this time of year.

Yep. That concludes my post for day 7. And it was all about me. And my hair.

Non-self-indulgent posts will resume tomorrow.