Giving Birth & Your Hair

Pregnant woman with long hair
Photo: Spectral-Design/Shutterstock
Q: Why are so many women cutting their hair short after giving birth? I’m pregnant and my hair is long. I’m just curious to know what the chances are that I will end up with short hair as well.
 
A: There’s more than one reason for this. One is that you have very little time for yourself after you’ve given birth. Taking care of your newborn instinctively becomes your number one priority, and literally everything else becomes secondary. There will be times when even normal things like eating or showering become luxuries in a women’s mind.
 
This might nog happen to you, especially if you have a husband who will help out with night-shift or a mother/mother in law who can take care of the baby for a few hours so that you can get some sleep. But most people don’t have or want the extra help.
 
Once your instincts take over, it’s often hard for anyone else to come near the baby, as most mothers insist on taking care of the baby themselves, even when they’re totally exhausted and trying to cope with two hours of sleep a night. I’m not trying to scare you, just trying to paint an adequate picture.
 
Do you see how you’re not going to be curling or straightening you beautifully long locks in this hectic time? It’s not going to happen. So most moms just tie their hair up all the time. Since showering has also become a luxury (I know that sounds disgusting, but most moms of newborns will agree), your hair is dirty and dull. This becomes an intense irritation after a while, and a lot of new moms then take the plunge and get their hair chopped off.
 
I read an article a while back that warned against cutting your hair off when you’ve just had a baby though, because according to the writer, once some moms get through those first three months and begin to function semi-normally again, they’re upset about the loss of their hair length.
 
The other obvious reason is that becoming a mother is a huge change in identity. Most women have no idea of the greatness of the extent that this shift in identity will affect your whole life, persona and relationship dynamics. Suddenly you’re a mother. You have to be responsible even when you don’t want to be. You have to keep coping even when you really don’t know how. You can’t actually just pack your life up and walk out when it feels as if everything is a screw-up.
 
What’s the trump card that women have pulled since the dawn of time, in the face of such an enormous adversity? Get a makeover! Seriously. Once the transition has sunk in, a lot of women crave to change their appearance. Everything else in your life has changed; why not tackle those tresses as well, right?
 
Congratulations with the pregnancy. I hope the little one gives you and your family a lot of joy and happiness.
 
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See also:
 
Hair and pregnancy
 
Maternity hairstyles
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