Bye, bye hair!

Well, my hair has been pre-Raphelite-ing again, and had become pretty unmanageable. I was mostly just throwing it up in a messy bun or braid, until Emma got a hold of it and pulled it all down and apart. Since I have no immediate plans to swoon in rowboats or languish on the edge of city ramparts or otherwise take advantage of my long, unruly hair, I decided it was time for it to go.

So, off to the hairdresser I went. She asked if I wanted most of it cut off in a ponytail so I could donate it to a wig-making for cancer patients charity. I said yes, of course. How fantastic would that be to have my hair, which is just irritating me, used for something so wonderful? And since my hair is such an unusual colour, it really is perfect. Rather charmingly, when I brought home and dried out the ponytail, Dave asked if we could keep it next time in case I died, so he could remember my red hair. I told him he was being very Victorian and that the ponytail was going in the mail.

In any case, here is the hair that was cut off, and here is my new haircut:

I was hoping for something a little longer, but my hair grows. Fast. So this is good for now - light, easy to clean, hard to spit up in or pull, and polished and professional for the next month while I'm still at work.

"

So, if I was in my "Earth Mother" phase back in the day in Saskatchewan (see my pre-Raphelite post), what would I be in now? My "Urban Working Mom" phase? My "I'm Too Busy to Construct an Identity" phase? Any thoughts?

What to do, what to do . . .

So, I notice that its been a year since I blogged about my hair. That would be because I was so grumpy after my last hair cut -- which I hated -- I was at an impasse. I was tired of my hair dresser, and I wanted to grow my hair out for a while. Since I'm too paranoid to see anyone else, I've just let it grow and grow for the last year. And lately I've been too busy to really take care of it (ie -- detangle it and brush it every day). I've just been putting it in braids all the time. I get time to put some detangler in it right after my shower and brush it, then it goes in a braid, so it doesn't get pulled all day. The next day, I either cover the messy top of my braid or take the one braid out and put it in two braids. Seriously, people, its come to this. My hair is becoming like an annoying pet that I can no longer care for.

Also, I'm probably going back to work in a month and a half, and I need to do interviews and such, so I need hair that actually looks professional, not crazy. This means either keeping lot of the length and getting bangs and layers (and finding someone who is not going to just give me a "Friends" haircut which is totally outdated and will not do in a bigger city) or cutting everything off and getting some version of the default haircut but slightly shorter. About this length:

This would leave my hair free to be pulled all day, but it would mean cute hats and scarves when off work, and easy wash - brush - and go styling when I was working. And it would mean I would actually have to go to the hairdressers once every two months. But I think I could probably fit that in if I really tried.

Oh hair, if only I took the time to blow dry and style you . . . life would be so much less (more?) complicated.

ps- if you're wondering, yes that is a Schoolhouse Tunic . It is a super great pattern. No, I haven't shown it to y'all here because mine turned out poofy . . . I think because I used a linen / rayon blend that had too much body. Either that or I have too much body . .. I think I shall continue to blame it on the fabric.

pps - Does anyone else think its hilarious and oh-so-Jillish that in my "default haircut" post it didn't occur to me to clean the mirror? I do make myself laugh.

Obligatory Belly Photo

So here I am, at 20 weeks pregnant. Half way there!

Yeah, and I have bangs. I don't think I've had bangs since I was in highschool. I"m trying to decide if I like them, or if they're too girly. I think its that the rest of my hair has really heavy layers, so I feel like its too much of a mom cut, or conversely, like what my hair was like in grade 11. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Donna, for getting my camera back to me! Lots of crafty things to post in the next day or so (or just check my Flikr, they're already up there).

For Anna

One of Andrew's current favorite things to do in the bathroom is spit on the mirror, so its a bit blurry, but here is the haircut. This picture kind of freaks me out, though, because I look SO much like my sister Kim in it. I think its just my expression. Anyway, its not terrible, its kind of cute, but well, is cute really what I want out of my hair? I have spent so many years being cute, can't I be something else now?

In other news, Aaron suddenly began sitting really well on his own. It was really hot today, that's why he's just in a prefold with no cover. He was thrilled to be able to play cars with the boys today.

Now I've Done It!

I went and got my hair cut again. I loved my other hairstyle -- it was very cool and funky. But terribly impractical. My hair was EVERYWHERE -- in the vaccum, on our clothes, down the drains, in the way every time that I went to put on the baby sling, impossible to put up or leave down . . . so it had to be cut.

But the problem is that I only specified a length, not a style when I went to see the hairdresser. I thought that since she'd given me such a cool hairstyle last time, she would have some brilliant insight again this time. Unfortuantely she was running behind and since I didn't really know what I want she just gave me the default hairstyle.

You all know what the default hairstyle is. It is the style that any hairstylist in the known multiverse would cut your hair into if not given instrucitons to do otherwise. For me, the default hairstyle is a bob. So now I have a slightly above-shoulder length bob. It has a few layers in the bottom, but that's it. It looks pretty good and is easy to take care of. But its the default haircut. The one I've always been given since I was 4 and had enough hair to bob. Sigh.

So now I've done it. I'm going to have to either grow my hair out or keep getting it cut. And we both know which one of those options is more fun. Stay tuned to the continuing saga of Jill's hair.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention

that I got my hair cut about two weeks ago. It is easy to style (I can literally wet it, put some goop in it and leave it), very cool and utterly impractical. Why impractical, you ask? Well, its sort of a long shaggy cut (think Kathryn's "Bon Jovi" cut from Lake of the Trees for those of you who were there that fateful summer) and the top layer comes to a length that slides behind my ears but does not quite fit into a ponytail, so when I pull my hair back, I must use a thousand barettes to sort of pull the top layer back, but of course because it is my hair it creeps out and hangs in funny little bits everywhere . . .

Okay, let me put it this way. For the last few years I have come to the conclusion that since my hair is naturally sort of wild and unmanageable, the best thing to do is to get a haircut where it looks like its SUPPOSED to be wild and unmanageable (note to self: a good policy for hair, but not so good for children). And this cut does that. Anyway, it is good hair. I'll post a picture when I think to take one of it.

Pre-Raphelite Hair

At present, I have Pre-Raphelite hair. It is long and red and streams out romantically from anything I attempt to use to contain it. If I were to sail down the local creek in a row boat with a white dress on, I would surely be mistaken for the Lady of Shallot.

I must say that while hair like this is excellent for mooning around in rowboats and floating to your death, or for swooping dramtically through a field on horseback to kiss an errant night, or regally weilding a sword as you go to knight a brave hero, it is not so convenient for, say, flopping a baby over your shoulder or trying to look repsectable for a Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper when you have just removed your touque and put a baby sling over your head after your toddler had decided to "brush" your braid two minutes before you leave home. Essentially, while an excellent hair cut for your average swooning heroine, long, slippery, unmanageable hair is not convenient for your average mother of two. No matter how lovely it looks the one time a year when you can actually wear it loose and down without it getting stuck in small childrens' mouths, spit up on, climbed over top of and tightly grasped in tiny fingers.

So now the problem is: What to do with my hair? I am presently in what I have decided to call my "Earth Mother Phase" -- ie -- crunchy attatchment parenting quilt making girl. There are only so many hairstyles that are appropriate to this look and ideal. Long and free flowing is one option. Very short and choppy is the other. Dave hates my hair short, and plus I did that for 5 years in B.C. and only a very few hairdressers could do something with my hair that looked good for more than 5 min. after I left their shop. But long and flowing is so impractical, especially when it is so heavy it gives you headaches. So I am on a quest for a hairstyle. I'll keep you posted.