Hair Today, Different Tomorrow

Hair Glorious Hair

Most of my life my hair has been a feature I have been proud of. I was teased because I wore it straight back in a tight ponytail as a girl. The boys loved the long wavy locks of my twenties. But it has always been the feature I loved. I did not use fancy shampoos, I did not use a bunch of product (except for the high bangs fad in high school, ewww). My hair was long, thick and slightly wavy and had amazing shine. I loved my hair, even when all I did was pull it up into a messy bun.

Pregnancy Hair Please

Fast forward to a little over three years ago. Pregnancy hair! Oh man, did my long locks look great! The wave was perfect, my stylist actually enjoyed blow drying my long thick tresses. It had just enough wave in it to do the perfect curl with a round brush. . . those were the days. So while I sound a little crazy for all my descriptions, this is actually an obituary to the feature I once loved and neglected. My hair. Oh, how I miss the old days of a long wavy mane.

In all the pregnancy posts and books I read, they mention how hair gets thicker and shinier during pregnancy. These same sources tell us to not worry when it falls out after the arrival of our little bundles of joy. Most women return to their previous state, others do not. I am in the “Do Not” group.

Hair Acceptance

My once loved and underappreciated feature turned curly. Yep, you read that right. My slightly wavy, thick hair turned curly. Now some of you ladies are shaking your heads wondering the big deal. Well, my big deal is this. I have never had curly hair. I do not know what to do with curly hair. I have never been a person to own 6 different types of shampoo looking for the shampoo that will take out frizz without over conditioning, but I am now. My once slightly oily hair is dry, frizzy and did I mention C U R L Y.

A stylist I had been going to for years said she had seen how some women after pregnancy have hair changes. Over time it usually works itself out and goes back to original form or slightly different. Some get thicker hair, some thinner. Mine has unbelievable curl when wet, it is frizzy when dried and poofy like I had never experienced.  She mentioned she had not seen someone really go from straight to curly, so I took to the internet looking for answers.

One article I found mentioned that curly hair is a non-dominant recessive gene. We all know how our body chemistry changes with pregnancy and through those changes it can awaken that recessive gene. Now, I do not know how credible this article was and honestly, I did not go looking for scientific proof, but it made sense.

Before pregnancy, due to fertility issues, my body received more hormones than most pregnant women. For almost five years leading up to full pregnancy, I was on some type of medicine to help me get pregnant, mostly hormones. After delivery, my “let down” was longer than most, probably because of all those medicines. It does not seem far fetched that my hair would change after pregnancy and all the different fertility drugs.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

So as I approach my 43rd year, I am teaching myself and researching how to care, style and maintain my new beautiful feature, curly hair. I am now beginning to understand the groans and headaches of taking care of curly hair. I am not a big fan. I do not like my current look, but it is probably due to my lack of knowledge and desire to play and style with my new do.

My first haircut as someone with curly hair was last week. I had been styling and trying to maintain my straight style, praying it would come back. I sat in the stylist chair, shared my story of straight to curly. She shaped and cut my hair to allow for the curl to show. My previous efforts of leaving long length to weight the curl were failing miserably. It was shocking to emerge from the chair after having my hair diffused to see the natural curl. I am not sure this is a change I am going to accept willingly. I am trying to embrace the new hairstyle that was “gifted” to me by ancient relatives and my son. Wish me luck!

Comment below if you have experienced a similar change and how you embraced it.