My Life In Hair

Yesterday, I was FINALLY able to treat myself to a little hair-therapy while Caden was at school! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! I was LONG past due for a little hair-TLC. Just like with Caden, I found out I was pregnant with Baby Cox just about the time I was due for my next highlight... uh oh! But I am a firm believer in no hair color during the first trimester... why??? Because that's how I roll! AND... if you want to judge the fact that I color my hair at all during pregnancy then go for it... just don't verbalize it, okay?! :)

I didn't start highlighting my hair until I went to college and realized how DARK my hair would get without the HOURS and HOURS of sunlight I used to expose it to playing tennis... and heck... I just couldn't be Katie if I wasn't a blond?! So it started there... my love of hair color and all of it's possibilities. BUT long before hair color was introduced into my life, I had a mother who was CONFIDENT that hair should be treated as nothing more AND nothing less than an accessory. After all, we all know that we aren't guaranteed a full head of hair forever, right? So why not treat it as so and take a few risks?! Hair is meant to be cut, styled, permed, crimped, straightened and MORE! And luckily there are LOTS of fine folks out there who have mastered the art of designing products to reverse the damage all of this might cause on our friend the hair!

Hair trends tend to follow the celebrity circuit, with people RUNNING into their hair stylists asking for the latest... Jessica, Jennifer, Reese, Posh Spice, etc. My first celebrity cut came after a one of my THREE perms had a run-in with a LONG summer in the pool. If you've been there you know that there is little you can do with gummy, green, used-to-be-permed hair expect CHOP IT OFF! SO at the ripe age of, oh I don't know 8 or 9, my parents took me to JC Penny for a FANCY haircut and I came home with my FIRST of many celebrity cuts...

The Dorthy Hamill...sigh! Let's just say that gummy-green hair might have been a better look for me, BUT alas, my Dad... sweet 'ol Albi contends TO THIS DAY that the Dorthy Hamill haircut is HIS FAVORITE hairstyle on me! He must have been working a lot back in those days... because REALLY, DAD?! Or it was some overprotective Dad way of trapping me into being a single cat-lady for the rest of my life... can you imagine if I still sported the BOWL CUT, I mean the Dorthy Hamill!!?? But it was all the rage back then... and apparently so was I!

From that haircut on, I swore to myself that NO MATTER how strong my need for curly hair would EVER be again, I would NEVER put myself through ANOTHER perm. No perm, no summer, no Dorthy Hamill... no way!

But that didn't mean that I grew out my shorty-short bowl cut into luscious flowing locks that rivaled girls living in a polygamist sect... NO, NO... I kept going with my hair stylings and remember the FIRST REALLY nice hair cut I got in 7th grade, at an Aveda Salon in Tulsa. We were visiting Tulsa, looking for a house and my mom knew that there was no moving-away sadness that a fresh hair cut couldn't cure and SHE WAS RIGHT! AND to top it off we purchased my VERY first paddle brush... do y'all remember those?! So hip!! AND I think some people still use them...

Then right before my NEXT move to Corpus Christi before my freshman year of high school... do you notice a pattern here... change brings change?! I decided that I HAD to have the Jennifer Anniston... the big poofy, bubbly, layered masterpiece! And I LOVED it!

I was ready to start high school... me and my Jennifer-cut! From there I went through a series of longer cuts and by long, I mean just past my shoulders... it was too hard to keep the hair up for tennis otherwise, but I did take a few plunges here and there through high school, but mainly in the form of a chin length BOB, until just before graduation... when I would soon be off to college... I cut my hair in short layers with a little flip at the bottom. I am not sure there was a celebrity I modeled my choice off of... but if you need a visual, I'd go for Julia Stiles... way back in the day!

And then we arrive to my freshman year at Baylor... during Christmas break I decided that I needed to go back to school with some flair and so I went for the Meg Ryan...

LOVED this hair cut... I had this cut off and on throughout my four years at Baylor in various lengths and colors. Colors, you say?! I thought you couldn't be Katie without being a blond? Honey child... of course I could still be Katie... as a auburn brunette, as a darker brunette and also as every color that it faded to on my way back to blond each summer! For two years in college, I decided to go dark in the fall and fade back for summer... but after a moment of honesty just before Justin and I got engaged, he told me it would be best for our relationship if I never went dark again, or at least as dark as I had gone the previous year. He informed me that he was unable to even look at me for the first month I had it colored... he felt like he was dating a goth... his words, not mine! So in order to keep the peace and maintain marital bliss I haven't gone dark since... but that's not to say that I won't ever do it again! :)

Justin knew what he was getting into when he asked me to marry him. He had known me for long enough to know that my hairstyles changed with turn of the seasons and that when I was in the mood for change, NO HAIR WAS SAFE! In fact, the WONDERFUL couple who led our marriage counseling class emphasized the importance of hair care for the woman. The husband, very frankly told Justin during one of our first meetings, "If you have to sacrifice a little bit in your budget so that your wife can go get her hair done... DO IT! And your marriage will thank you!" Thank goodness for the wisdom of that man and the hair care prowess of his wife! And I think Justin took it to heart and of course I never forget to remind him of it either! :)

Which brings us to yesterday... HA! Well, actually we started at yesterday didn't we?! SO BACK to yesterday... I had my appointment scheduled and I was just praying that Caden could stay well enough through Tuesday so I could KEEP that appointment. As I was driving down the road I felt this little tickle in my gut... and I thought... UH OH... I know you and I know that TODAY, NO HAIR IS SAFE!! I had that feeling...

And SURE enough I went back blond (er) and CUT some serious hair off! AND I love it! Short and blond is always my fall back and if it were up to Justin it'd stay that way, because it's his favorite version of me... BUT after 6 plus years of marriage and 3 plus years of dating he KNOWS better than to think that this will be THE LAST AND FINAL TIME that I will change my hair... I can't do it... I'm not a one hair style for a life time type of gal! And for that I have my sweet Momma to thank, who by the way is getting her hair done on Thursday... wonder if she'll get that little tickle in her gut tomorrow too?!!

And there you have it... the SHORT version of 'my life in hair'... (I know what you're thinking... SHORT, my bootie!!) Here's to a happy hair day and LOTS more tickles in your gut! DO IT, DO IT!!