Month Three in the "My Hair Does Not Grow" Series

INITIAL CUT, ONE MONTH, TWO MONTHS ...

THREE:

ARE YOU SERIOUS???

Scientific proof: My hair does not grow. If it does look the tiniest bit longer, it's because it's limper. Which rhymes with "whimper."

I take supplements. I eat protein. I treat my hair with the tenderness of caring for a newborn premie. I'm careful not to over process it, over heat it, etc. I condition it. I talk to it in the hopes it will grow like a well-attended to plant.

Stubbornly stunted.

What do I really want? About this length again:


I'd also like to be two years younger, as in these pics. I want this length not because I think this is beautiful hair; I do not. But I felt like a girl then. I have not felt like a girl in 3 months. Sigh. Plus, I gained weight. Double sigh.

But ...

There is hope.

I have a little trick up my sleeve I can't wait to tell you about. I'm working out the details tomorrow. Until then, I will not talk about the hair again until "something" has changed. Winky-wink.

One More Hairy Detail ....

This is how it looked yesterday morning after the root color and style. I teased it a bit more, but I cannot make it be Tutorial Lady hair. I realized she probably has a few more hairs on her head than I do, plus my layers are shorter. Anyhoo ... this is my favorite top, a Maurice's purchase. Love the feminine stuff. OK, that's all about hair for four more weeks.

Haircut: 1 Month

This is my "one month checkup," thus the #1 in the pic. Let me explain. Maybe you can relate.

It has never been thick or luxurious. I joke that I have the same exact amount as I did when I was 6 months old. But I guess I'm more attached to it than just by the root.

Oh, the hair woes of cut and color that I have known.

On August 16, I got it cut, and I have been mentally flogging myself ever since. I do not like the haircut.

"What?" you say. "Big deal! Get over it! It's only hair! It will grow back! Be thankful that you have some!"

Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.

But I don't like the haircut. Never doing it again. I will let it grow into three long scraggly strands and braid them up on my head-- or whatever I do in the future, I will NOT cut it like this again.

We went to the Columbus Zoo a few days before the cut. Here is what it looked like. Again, not great hair, but OK hair.



Then I went to see my new stylist (who fixed me up for Katie's wedding in June, as seen here. I loved this look):



So I LOVE my stylist. She is a great person and great stylist. This unhappiness is not her doing. I agreed we should take up the back a little to make it look healthier and a little more trendy. And here is what it looked like the next day:



I had cutter's remorse. I felt like a 50 year old boy, which is bad, since A)I'm a woman and B) I'm only 48. Somehow, I just felt less feminine, and a little exposed.

I felt like:



And that weekend, I had my 30th class reunion, and here's what it looked like:



Oh good merciful heavens. I hate that above pic with a white-hot hatred rivaled only by the white-hot hatred of my ghostly white skin.

The thing is, my hair grows very slowly. Some people swear it all grows about the same length per month, but I disagree. I will have this length for MONTHS.

So to prove myself either right or wrong, I'm going to take a pic every month to chronicle the growth or nongrowth, whichever.

So here is Month 1:



Yes, it's brassy. That's because I desire a warm blonde, not ashy or champagne. I'm ok with brassy.



And just in case you can't tell how much growth there is, here it is in "heat map."



I am not happy wearing it straight. I am not happy turning it under. I am not happy flipping it back, as it is here:



This is how I feel when I leave every morning for work: "I hope this doesn't look too weird." And every time I see myself in the mirror, on the inside, I'm making this face.



So here is haircut vs. 1 month. NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE.



I've had worse. I've had orange hair done by a salon of high reputation. I've cut my own hair worse. I've won a "Worst Bed Head" contest. Still, I am not a happy haircut camper. It's my blog, and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to ....

I'm living with it because I have to. If I weren't an old lady, I'd get extensions.

So what can I do? Nothing. I just can't wait to see how long it actually takes to grow out again. And so, being a glutton for punishment, I'm chronicling the re-growth here.

What's your bad cut/color story?

May I Pinterest You in Learning About a New Social Network Time Squanderer?

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Blogging is on the wane, I believe. It's like the old cordless phone you keep around and use occasionally but do not rely on ever since you emotionally soldered your cell phone to your psyche.

Facebook is going strong, and Twitter itself is "trending" bigger than ever.

But just when I thought I was safe from spending more time staring at this screen, along comes Pinterest.

Also known by me as, "I gotta have my pictures!"

The best way to describe Pinterest is to blatantly steal words from Pinterest:

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

First of all, why is this available by invitation only? It's not a black tie gala. It's a giant bulletin board in the sky. It's as big as the Web, and the Web is not checking credentials before you enter. So I don't get the secret society shadow that hovers over Pinterest.

Anyway.

My friend invited me to join, and since I'd already been seeing others post on Facebook about Pinterest, I was curious.

Soon I got the gist of it and started pinning my pretties to my boards.

Pinning pretties has turned into "Gotta get more pictures! More, more, MORE!!"

Check out this great combo of taupe and coral for Fall--LOVE. And Starbucks, too? What the WHUT?! I'm so into this outfit that I want to pin it to my style board even though I've already pinned it. I can't contain my enthusiasm for this ensemble. Or pinning.

I learned that you can put a small Pinterest icon in your toolbar and whenever you're browsing the Web and see something you adore, you can pin it to a board from that website. THIS MAKES GRABBING MORE PICS EVEN EASIER!!

LOOK! It's a picture of an Amy Tan book I just read and loved. And now ... I have a picture of it!

I have the following boards: Music, Classic Films & Movies, Favorite Places & Spaces, My Style, Books, Products & Activities I Love, Favorite Foods/Recipes, For the Home (Which is currently bare) and White. Yes, White.

White is the first of my boards that I will be doing by color. Do not ask me why I thought this was a good idea. Perhaps I thought I'd be teaching preschool and need boards of color?

These earrings are featured on "My Style" board. Aren't they adorable??

I noticed that other people name their pages whimsical names like, "Cottage Dreams," "Outward Bound," "Bucket List," "Plottings and Plannings," "Get Crafty," etc. But I was all jazzed about "White." That's kind of embarrassing. I'm going to have to dress up my boards with cool names. Maybe "White" will become "Alabaster Dreams." Maybe "Stuff I Like" will become "J'adore!"

All I know is, in 3 days, I have pinned 142 items, none of which I will ever purchase, cook, wear or be seriously inspired by. But I gotta have the pictures. I'm outta control.

I can't figure out why this is so appealing to me. But I have a sneaking feeling it has to do with fantasy purchasing. I'm the Michael Jackson of Pinterest, pointing to outrageously expensive knick knacks, saying, "I'll take that and that and that ...."

And right now, I'd like to take this piece of key lime pie to my mouth, but I can't, so I'll just collect a picture of it.




I also have a feeling that I have entered a grown-up version of the Pokemon craze, in which theme was "Gotta catch 'em all!" Sound familiar? Hey--maybe I should pin Pokemon characters on a new board entitled, "Stuff my kids liked in 1996!"