When I was a child, I had pretty, semi-wavy hair. My bangs laid down nicely. There were some soft waves or rings that would form at the very ends, and it could grow long.

Then one day I hit puberty. And everything changed. Literally, over night.

I went to bed the summer between my 7th and 8th grade year with my normal wavy, ruly locks. And I woke up with stretch marks all over my rear-end, and out of control, course, electro-magnetically shocked hair. I have a picture of it somewhere hidden in a childhood photo album. I was playing barbie dolls with my 6 year-old niece, Katie, at the time. I’m smiling a big smile with my braces. And my hair is absolutely nuts.

I didn’t know what to do with it. I think I tried gel at first. That’s what my mom and sister used with their tight ringlets. Didn’t work for me. I did the mouse and Aqua-Net thing for a couple of years (1993-1995). That kept it tame, but crunchy. Then my junior year I discovered the flat iron and then added hair dye. My hair my senior year in high school was fried.

Over my 20’s I discovered jojoba oil. That has been a God-send. When I didn’t have kids, I did flat iron my hair a few times a week and then on off days, just used jojoba oil. Now it seems like jojoba oil is all I use. Between kids, late nights working my second and third jobs as a Mompreneur and a husband who likes to shower together often (can’t do the shower-cap thing in front of hubby) my hair just needs to work well from air drying.

Normally I wear it long. Not super long. Never have been able to do that. My course hair breaks after a certain length. But recently I’ve been doing that fun angled bob thing, although wearing a longer version, right around shoulder length.

Today, I finally got my second hair cut since I switched the style. Thank God. It was out of control! But I did get my hair dresser to straighten it while I was there. Just a good blow dry with a flat iron finish. So hopefully Hubby can be happy with a few showers on his own, while I work on making sure this hair style lasts. After that though, jojoba oil will have to suffice. She must have cut half my hair off just with the thinning shears, so that should help. It looked like she picked up a large rodent when she grabbed my hair off the floor and threw it in the trash.

The issue is–I’m pregnant. And when I’m pregnant atleast, none of my hair falls out. You know how normally, when you shower or comb your hair, strands of hair come out? Not when I’m pregnant. So within a few months, I have this mop of hair so stinkin’ thick, I can barely see my scalp. I remember getting my hair highlighted one year when I was pregnant and the lady who did my hair, was so stressed because she kept having to pull out more and more foils as my hair just wouldn’t stop. I think she ran late for her next appointment.

I remember complaining about my hair one day to an old friend from high school. I was so humbled when she looked at me and told me to get over it because she has the opposite problem and already needed to use Nioxin to keep her hair. “At least you have hair, Theresa.”

Yikes.

Yeah, I felt bad.

At least in a few months, approximately 2 months after the baby will be born, all the hair that didn’t come out while pregnant, will all come out at the same time. Then I just might start needing to use Nioxin too. I remember the first time that happened, I had recently given birth to my first, and I was sitting at the bottom of the bathtub with the water running over my head, pulling the strands of hair off my head in clumps like the mean girl on The Craft who got cursed by Naomi Campbell.

Each consecutive pregnancy has gone the same way.