this hairy life.

Last day to enter the Shabby Apple dress giveaway! 

{hair embroidery by laura normandin}
I've just spent a ridiculous amount of time researching dresses using tresses. When I was about 10 years old or so, I would stay up late on Friday nights and watch 20/20 with my mom. Sometimes we'd watch it upstairs in her bedroom, moments I absolutely relished. One episode has stuck with me: an old woman who saved her hair for however many years to create a floor-length dress, complete with hat. Her dress was coffee-colored though the hair on her head (not the hat!) was now grey. I think about this lady--without fail--every time I shower.

{by kate kretz}
During pregnancy you basically stop shedding (shedding being a normal part of the hair growth cycle). About three months post-delivery when hormone levels level out, you start losing about a year's worth of hair--all at once. While it drives me batty enough all day long as I hourly unravel it from R's tiny fingers, the sheer quantity is most obvious in the shower. Nests of it. Surely enough to make a hat--and maybe some booties for the baby.

So every shower I think of this regal woman wearing her hair. And then I think: Is this going to become a blog post?

'Cuz that's kinda gross. But here it is, friends. I just couldn't resist. I'm obsessed. And while human hair collecting may be unsettling, we do use sheep hair for all kinds of things--so why not our own? I have to admit I nearly kept R's two baby dreds, which we cut a few weeks ago. (For the record, we do wash him, but he thrashes his head at night when he's rooting to eat; which started knotting his wispy locks. So the knots grew. Until we cut them out. Does that make me a bad mom?) I reckon S tossed the dreds out the window, though, because suddenly they were gone.

Do you secretly keep your old hair or the hair of someone you love?

13 comments:

Kristin H said...

Haha... no I definitely do not keep mine... not the thick long beautiful hair I wish I had... But, I did keep the first curls of my boys's head and will treasure them:)

Claire Kiefer said...

Ew, no! haha. I kept a lock of my high school boyfriend's hair when I cut it for him when we were teenagers, but that's long gone . . . I hope, anyway!

OneCraftyFox said...

OMG, this post totally made me laugh... primarily the part where you said you think of the woman every time you shower, without fail :P

I used to watch 20/20 with my mom all the time too, how did I miss this episode? lol

My mom has a lock of golden curls tied with a bow (mine of course, since I don't have a stalker mommy... that I know of anyways) which she keeps wrapped and tucked away in her jewelry box. Now my hair is very dark and very straight, how I wish I could have my baby hair back!!

I have never kept anyone's hair :) Just photo's of them while they were sleeping. Stupid glass reflection gets in the way. /joke !!!

Jess said...

hahaha - I had to cringe when I read this! For some reason hair really grosses me out... especially when its wet!

E. Charlotte said...

Oh this was hilarious! Thank you for the slightly uncomfortable story. Ha ha! My mother saved my baby curls, but that's about it. :) And I don't intend to save any, unless it's my future child's.

A'n'G Johnson said...

your blog has changed since my last visit!

Unknown said...

i kept my girls first locks. but really, all the hair we cut off ('cause i do it at home i could stuff quite a lot of cushions...

LatteLisa said...

I love hair, healthy hair, but I'm definitely not wearing mine! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Oh no, not wearing mine! Though My hair is pretty awesome, I think.

I never knew that about the hair shedding thing during pregnancy!

a little black cloud in a dress said...

omg! No!! lol but I do love 20/20. :] I didnt even hair from Emma's first haircut.

My hair JUST stopped falling out from the whole giving birth thing. Two and a half years!! Thank goodness I have more hair than I know what to do with.

Faiza said...

(clearing my throat...) i had to cut a knot out of my hair last week for the same reason as rowan and i am 33. solidarity!

Diana Mieczan said...

For some reason I never kept my hair but I remember that a few people I know kept their kids little first curls as a memory. Kisses, sweetie

Anna Walker said...

YOU know what's so weird!? I actually went to an art gallery in Long Beach last month and they had art that definitely was made out of human hair!!! It was weird and unnerving! My hair is somewhere at my parents house from my first haircut!
I WOULD love to lose some of my hair! Seriously! :D

http://annawalker1992.blogspot.com/

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