Three Years and Gone

My three year relationship is now over.  Some days it was love, some days it was hate, and most days it was work.  Goodbye long hair.  I doubt you will be missed all that much.  I am loving my new freedom.  My scalp almost immediately started feeling better, it could actually breath for the first time in years.  The bathtub drain has made it through several showers and the water is still draining, this hasn't happened in a long time.  It takes me just minutes to do my hair.  AND I can still put my hair in a pony tail, a stubby one, but still, a pony tail.

The lesson that I have learned in the last week is that if you are feeling lonely and like no one in your world notices you, do something drastic to your appearance.  If you do so, people who you didn't even think knew you existed feel the need to say something. 

Remember this picture?

Munchkie took this for me, I think it's the last real picture of how long my hair was.

Then I saw this picture on Hair Romance

Photo from Hair Romance

on a Short Cut Saturday post about the new bob.  I fell in love and decided that this was the low maintenance hairstyle that I've wanted and searched for without even knowing it.

So Munchkie and I trotted 2 1/2 hours away to my favorite hair girl ever, she's cut my hair for 3 1/2 years and I wasn't going to trust anyone else to create such a look for me.

Munchkie was happy to take yet another picture of me, to show off my last few minutes with long hair.  We had a hard time getting a picture with me actually in it, or at least all of my head in it.  So the fact that this one is out of focus kind of had to be overlooked.

I know that to some this may seem like nothing, but this was a huge feat for my ridiculously thick and "naturally nasty" (not curly, not straight just frizzy and annoying) hair to accomplish.  Growing this long hair took a lot of effort.  Even on this day, a rainy, humid an dreary day my hair could not be contained into a nice straight 'do.

So I put my hair into the very capable and talented hands of my trusted hairstylist and she yet again delivered amazing results.

Since I was going for such a drastic change, she initially did the cut straight and smooth to ensure that everything was even, adequately thinned and overall perfect.  I was happy with this result, before I even attempted to make it look like the picture.

While I watched her select and separate sections of my hair I began to notice the increasing amount of gray hairs covering my head.  They were especially noticeable due to the home dye job I did a few months ago that was horribly grown out.  I was freaking out with each section she pulled up, exposing my roots.  So I had to come home and dig out the remaining bogo box of hair dye that I had stored away and cover those signs of premature aging.  This also gave me the perfect opportunity to try out the wavy look of the inspiration hairstyle.

I would say that for trying out a wavy style for the first time in quite a few months, my hair cooperated pretty well.  Not quite the exact look of the picture, but I still liked it a lot.

I think that it so much more manageable now.  I can have a decent hairstyle with only a few minutes of effort and look good enough to go out on a date with my love.  This makes all of us happy.  Even if Munchkie's Daddy did have a few moments of mourning the night before the big chop.  He may not love this new look like I do, but he has to love the decreased amount of time that it takes for me to get out the door.

I still need to work on the soft, natural looking waves of my inspiration picture, but with my frizzy hair, I need frizz controlling products, which don't always create soft and natural waves.  I will keep working on this and see what I can do.

Another Way to Curl Your Hair

A friend of mine sent me a link to this YouTube video recently and I decided to try out her method of curling her hair. Let me tell you that I love it. I wear my hair in a sock bun almost every single night because it takes close to two seconds and almost always looks great. If it doesn't look great, I just pull it back into a pony tail and no one knows the difference. A picture is worth a thousand words right? So I'll just post pictures and let you watch the video.

She does her hair with plain water, but I mix water, hair gel and leave in conditioner in a spray bottle and use that on my hair to help it hold.  When I take it out, I spray some curl spray on it, which I think is just hair spray marketed for curly hair.  The picture below is what happened after a few hours when I only used water.

This was my first attempt, it turned out pretty good for a first attempt.

And then this is today, I haven't washed my hair for a few days and it was the third day in a row that I had done the sock bun.

If you try this, how did it work for you?

The New NonMom 'Do

**You don't have to be a mom to take advantage of this great hair idea!**
My wonderful friend from Our Tiny House passed along a link to me on how to create curly/wavy hair in literally no time.  I tried it overnight last night and it truly was amazing.  Many times I have talked about my hair and so you know that I am always striving to find something fast and easy.

The Busy Mom Hair Trick That Changed My Life

It was so easy and after watching the video once I did what she said.  Here are the pictures that I took along the way.

 This was my hair air dried- not so great looking.

 All wrapped up and ready to go

 Side view

 This was what it looked like after sleeping on it all night.  Still pretty much the same as the day before.

 On a walk this morning to the farmer's market.

This was what the back looked like when we got back from the farmer's market.

UPDATE 9/6/11

I tried the hair thing a little differently.  I didn't like the way the back didn't get much wave.  So I put one headband on and took a top section of the back of my hair and wrapped it around the headband.  Then I wrapped my bangs around this headband the other direction.  Then I took the rest of my hair and wrapped it around a second headband.  I like these results much better.  It's just so easy! 

T Shirts Galore!

We have been spending a lot of time in the car lately.  Driving the five hours to the in-laws, twenty plus hours to see my family and multiple trips to and from our new home is helping me to be a little creative.  I have been finding crafts to do in the car using minimal supplies.  I have been cutting up t shirts that were headed towards a donation bin and trying out all of the ideas I've seen online using nothing more than scissors, a t shirt and sometimes needle and thread or a flourish.  I am pretty happy with what I've done so far and each thing seriously only takes minutes to make.  I take my time and look out the window often to drag out the projects because I know that I have a long time in the car and still get done quickly.  Here are some pictures of my recent crafts with the link on how to make each.  I cannot stress enough how ridiculously easy these are.  Especially the bottom one, you seriously just cut up a t shirt.

Repurposing: T Shirts into 5 Strand Braided Headbands

 I sewed my first flower to add to this one for Munchkie. 

Recycled Tee Scarf

Getting Crafty- Hipster Scarves

Fast, Easy Frugal Hair Care

Doing my hair is the most time consuming part of my day. It makes me not want to shower because then I dread actually having to do my hair. It takes me so long that Munchkie's Daddy actually suggested that I have a straightening treatment done so that I don't have to be late everywhere I go. I have done this several times and it lasts about six months each time. However, at first I was just a new mom that was so happy to have easy nice looking hair. Then I started to think about all of the chemicals that were being used to create this smooth, shiny hair and started to become hesitant about going through with it again. Then my hair started to fall out. I am very sure that these treatments had something to do with my hair loss. Needless to say, I needed to find another easy alternative.

I sent a message to my hair stylist asking about my options for my hair besides chopping it all off. She suggested I try doing the wave look and sent me a you tube video of how to do it. I tried to do the scrunching hair style and was extremely hesitant about it. I thought that with my previous hair treatments I would never be able to make it work. I found some curl enhancing mousse and sprunch spray to try and was surprised that it actually somewhat turned out.

I have been doing this hairstyle every single day since the first day that I tried.  It literally takes me minutes and may not look amazing, but it looks fine.  My sister in law is staying with us for a few days and brought with her a spray that she uses for her scrunch and go hair.  She said that she bought some online and then saw on a morning show something about making your own salt spray.  She went online and found a recipe to make.  I tried it this morning and was amazed at the results.  Her spray which costs her literally cents, gave my hair more curl than the mousse that I had purchased at the store.  I will be making my own needless to say!

Sea Salt Spray
from Livestrong.com
1 teaspoon sea salt
8oz distilled or purified water
1/2 teaspoon conditioner (coconut for a beachy smell)
1/2 teaspoon (approximately) hair gel

Shake well and spray on damp hair.  Scrunch and twirl to create waves.

On-the-Road Project

I saw a post about making headbands on a blog I just recently discovered.  I don't usually tend to wear headbands because I can not usually find any that are strong enough to hold back my super thick hair.  Especially at work I think that I should wear headbands more often because it's the worst to be in a germy room, hunched over a patient and have your hair fall in your face.  The last thing I want to do is to reach up with my now germy hand and touch my hair and face.  The thought has crossed my mind several times that I wish that I had a headband.

Repurposing Tshirts into 5 strand braided headbands

Munchkie also has bangs that are so thick that by just walking outside her face turns bright red and the bangs start getting damp with sweat.  I intend on growing her bangs out and think that during this process headbands are pretty essential.  That is, if I can get her to keep them on her head. 

I'm trying to come up with some things that I can entertain myself with during our really long car ride that is coming up soon.  These headbands seem so easy and quick that I can hopefully pound out a few of them before we even get to the Midwest.

Photo by Our Tiny House, used with permission

My friend just recently made some for herself and also a super cute headband for her baby with some tshirt material as well.  They are so cute and look so good on both of their heads it really made me think that I need to get in on this headband action.
Our Tiny House's Braided Headbands

And how cute are these little bow tshirt headbands?
Our Tiny House's Bow Headbands


Check our her blog, she has all kinds of cool craft projects!

I Did It!

In the words of Munchkie "Look at me!  I did it!"  I finally have grown my hair out.  I cut it on the second day of my honeymoon over 5 years ago and have not managed to grow it back out since then.

With super thick and what I call "naturally nasty" (not curly, not straight, not wavy, defiant and frizzy) hair every time I would start to get my hair long, it would get warm out.  As it gets warmer I have no desire to blow dry my hair and start sweating minutes after taking a shower.  So my solution to not having to spend time on my hair would be to chop it off.  I actually had grown it out a good amount, and then Munchkie was born and I went in when she was less than two weeks old to have several inches taken off.  This (pic below) was my hair two years ago at a friend's wedding.  I am so proud of myself for growing it out.  It may seem like a little thing, but to me it has been a struggle for five years.

You might ask why I would want to grow my hair out if it's such a struggle.  Well, first off, because Munchkie's Daddy likes long hair and secondly because it makes me feel empowered to meet a goal I set for myself.  Even if that goal was initially set to make someone else happy.  Every time I went into the salon and ask for it to be chopped off, I would feel so relieved to have an easy, quick style.  But then I would feel this little hint of regret, like I had given up on a goal and was unable to achieve it.  It feels really good to realize that after several years, my goal has been met. 

See you later short mom hair!  

No Time to Wash My Hair

My hair this morning when I got home.

The other day when I was getting my hair cut my hair girl was telling me to try out dry shampoo.  I had heard of this before, but she said that there are many brands out there that have a version, including Suave.  I brought some a little while ago for $2-$3 and decided to try it out last night before I went into work.  I last washed it Friday morning in the shower, sprayed it in my hair yesterday evening and am heading to bed now after a night of work.  I have to say, my hair does not look greasy at all.  I think I went a little crazy spraying it, and probably could have used a fraction of what I did use, so it made my hair feel a little funny.  My scalp was also itchy, which is usually is, and I also don't know if it was as much physically itchy as it was psychological because I knew there was something there.  I don't usually use any kind of product besides some leave in conditioner or antifrizz cream so I'm not used to having stuff in my hair.  I'm definitely going to be trying it again because it cut so much time off getting ready.

 This is what the back says:

This dry shampoo spray, with mineral clay, refreshes hair to prevent a greasy feel between washes.

Stylist recommendation

Shake can well.  Hold 8-10 inches from hair.  Spray directly on oily roots.  Use heat from the palm of your hand to rub in excess powder.  For oil prone hair, apply on first day hair is washed to give extra volume and texture as well as to absorb oil throughout the day.

This makes me think that if you have oily hair you can also use this after you dry and style your hair to keep it fresh looking throughout the day.

If anyone tries this out, let me know what you think.  I'm interested to hear!

Hair Clip Review

Recently a blog that I follow had a giveaway of a hair clip by Lilla Rose and so I of course entered the contest.  I went to the website to check them out and part of the contest entry was to "like" it on Facebook, which I did.  These clips sparked my interest and I decided that although I didn't win the giveaway, I wanted to try it out.  I get bored very quickly with my hair and then tend to do something that I regret later that usually involves dye or scissors.  I thought that these clips might be a way to change things up for less money and not be quite as permanent.

After pouring through all of the option,s I selected two different kinds in two different sizes and bought them on Monday.  They arrived in the mail yesterday (Thursday)!  And I choose the cheapest mailing option.  They are speedy!  I tried out several styles last night, making Munchkie's Daddy take pictures, and also tried the small sized one on Munchkie.  She was able to wear it well until she wanted to exercise with Munchkie's Daddy and I, then it just slid out of her smooth baby hair with the jumping around.

Then I put the clip to the test.  I put it in my hair when we got to the aquarium today, chased Munchkie around the aquarium all day, came home, took a nap and then took pictures in my bathroom mirror to see what it looked like.  I have to say that I am impressed with how well it held my hair, it did take a couple attempts to get it to feel tight.  And it was much more comfortable than wearing a ponytail.  The only thing is that I'm not sure if it makes my hair look fun or if I look like a Duggar. 

I decided the best way to show these clips was just to post a lot of pictures.  So here I go.

I didn't quite understand how these clips work.  The two parts are attached and then the pin part has grooves in it that keeps it in place.

See how it's attached to the figure eight part?  Then you push the pin under your hair, as close to your scalp as you can, and push it through the loop of the figure eight part on the other side.

The figure eight part is very flexible and so can bend around different styles of hair.

I tried out the small one on Munchkie.  It's small, but just a little too big/heavy to stay in her hair like this.  I think it will work out well on my hair if I'm just going to do it halfway or maybe even just a ponytail if I can get all my hair to fit.

I did a twist with Munchkie's hair and stuck it in.  This was the hairstyle that held up until Jillian's 30 Day Shred started, and the jumping jacks were just too much for it.

These are my hair in just a simple twist.  My hair stood up a little too much for my liking. 

And then the basic ponytail.  Nothing too exciting.

Here's a random twist.

And then of course the classic french twist.

And then this is my hair after today's activities.  I didn't look in the mirror and had no idea what it looked like until I got home and took pictures.

So.  Tell me your thoughts.  What do you think about this clip?  How does it look?  Do I look like I should be wearing a long skirt?