Mommy Style Monday #26: Bang-ing Out My Options.

About two months ago I went in for a massage at my local gym and as I was scheduling my next appointment I decided (on a whim), "oh, man, this hair, I am so tired of this hair."  That was it, I decided my next massage would be followed by a LONG overdue haircut and style.

Problem was I was stuck. What should I do to change my hair from long, kinda blonde, and decidedly boring? I literally have had this long hairdo at least fifteen separate times in my life (after turning 14, I will get to why I never had this hairdo before 14 a bit later). It's not that it's an awful hairdo, it's just kinda the hair version of the "I give up" dress (thanks Stacy and Clinton for that great description of that type of dress).

However, and I will be blunt here...whenever I get a hairdo that is a dramatic change from my current long style, it always. GOES. back. to. the. original. look. (AND SO QUICKLY, TOO!)  My hubby never gets why it does this but he says within a week, I am always back to kinda long hair, with lots of waviness, so he was a bit skeptical that this time would be different. He's right, you know. I totally admit to this. If I get a short hairstyle, my hair always looks like some version of David Spade's hairdo (I spent too much of 1999 with this look-yikes), and when I get a longer hairstyle, my hair ends up back to the position you all have seen it in the past six months or so.

Turns out I was using the wrong inspirations for my look. I needed to be a better researcher for my own hair.

First I read that you should go with a hairstyle of a celebrity whose own face shape and hair is similar to your own. That was easy enough, and you will see who I picked at the end of this post. When I showed my inspiration to the stylist, she smiled and agreed it was a look she could definitely make work on me. Phew.

Then I read you should go with the same color hair you had as a kid for your color inspiration, but since my hair IS the same color it was as when I was a kid, that was a no-brainer. BUT, I realized, hey, wait...when I was a kid...I NEVER HAD a haircut that didn't look really cute on me. And it was because my father, being a single dad, could not be responsible for my hair if it was longer than shoulder length. He literally had NO idea how to condition, comb, brush, and play with longer hair. If my hair was around shoulder length, he was okay, but the very moment my hair got too long, he took me to the Hair Cuttery and had them do their business. He also insisted on me having bangs because he knew that would make the styling even easier...just put the back of my hair in a ponytail and go.

And with that, I had the hairstyle I wanted...a nice mix of me at 10 and a certain celebrity whose own personal style I believe is definitely doable by me.

This is my own version of the look that works for me now...a SAHM who loves what she does, but also really needs a change every once in a while.

I have bangs.  That I can play with! 

And layers that don't make me look like an aged SNL actor.  (THANK GOD.)

This was taken within hours of coming home from the gym.  For those of you who come here for the fashion stuff, that is a Gap Maternity Sweater, Duo Maternity Jeans, Liberty of London Bensimon tennis shoes, and the carnation necklace from J. Crew.

My bangs are sideswept here, but the stylist did show me how to wear them so they framed my face in a bit more "modern" way.  I will likely wear the modern way every once in a blue moon, but they do sit right on the top of my eyebrows, so they will take some getting used to (it has been years since I last had bangs).

View from the side.  Upon seeing the style, I was thrilled, but definitely wanted to get home and slap on some makeup.  I felt like her hard work deserved some lipstick, at the very least.

I do really like it in the face framing version, but again, I will need to wear it like this off and on before I can fully commit to it for an entire day's wear.  How do those of you with bangs do it?  After a while do you just not notice anymore?

CW and I were out that evening with Mr. Dina and Rex, and so we grabbed this photo of the two of us.  She is pretty happy with her blue lollipop, so you all know. 

This version, where the bangs are more side swept, is the way I have been wearing it for the past two days.  Very comfortable and easy to maintain.  In fact, I had to put my hair back to wash my face, and the barrette left an indent, so I just whipped out the flat iron and zoop, just like that, my bangs were back! 

And now the inspiration photos...this is me at ten at Mt. Vernon Estate here in NOVA.  This was the main photo I wished for the stylist to use.  I think it is pretty close, but still have not been able to 100% commit to the fringe in the eyes thing yet.  Obviously I tolerated it back then.

My brother, me, and my Cabbage Patch Kitty Cat.  Much shorter hair, verging on a bowl cut (which I DID NOT want), but the photo was helpful for the stylist to see how much "BANG" I could really take and still look normal.  Turns out I can take a lot of "BANG."  LOL.

This was me and my other brother (he was around 6 months here) and I was in Germany visiting him and my mom.  This is the only reason I have longer hair...my mom could handle longer hair.  I was only in Germany for a couple of months, so once I got back home to VA, my dad cut it all off.  :)

And the celebrity inspiration, Anna Torv.  Once my hubby saw that she had bangs and looked good (he loves her as "bad" Olivia with red hair and bangs on Fringe), he gave me the thumbs up to go ahead.  He was still skeptical that it could last, but with the Anna Torv photo, he was at least willing to humor me.  Men. 

I told Mr. Dina that I may even get this hair color with the cut, and he was horrified.  He loves it on her, but thinks it is stupid to color hair. 

So I get home, show him my hairstyle, he smiles, and then I say, "I didn't color it, so you know."  Turns out that by cutting my hair, the color ended up closer to the second Anna Torv photo than the first.  Huh.  Healthy hair looks good.  LOL.  Lesson learned.

So did I keep it up?  Do I look like David Spade or a beach-burned version of some knock-off version of Malibu Barbie? 

I am happy to report that as of two hours ago, I have the same hairstyle, maybe a wee limper, but the bangs are still there, as are the layers.  As is the color.  So yay for that...

Which brings me to my next and final thought/question...

How do I maintain this?  How do I ensure that I can keep the bangs without having to spend a lot of money to have a stylist cut the bangs every two-three weeks?  I do plan on going back to seeing her in early April (about 8 weeks), but I want to keep the bangs and they will have for sure grown out too much by then! 

Alrighty, thanks for allowing me to talk about this tonight.  It feels good to have banged this out.  Okay, I am done with the puns.  Night, night, everyone!