When I had to cut my hair I was very depressed but the really bad thing followed: Never since I can remember I felt ugly this way! Before that I never realized what influence my hair had to my self- perception! Although I had ever worn my hair in an updo outside the house I went trough some really bad weeks in which it would have suited me best if it had been possible to stay at home. Can you understand my emotions or had I overreact? How much does your hair influence your well-being?

E.

I can certainly understand it.  I've had plenty of bad haircuts over the years that were devastating to me and very trying emotionally.  I even have nightmares about someone cutting off my hair, even though I sometimes fantasize about doing it during the day!

I think I would feel just as upset as you did, if I had to get my hair cut. I'm honestly terrified of letting a stylist near it -- part of me is convinced that if I do, he or she will cut much too much off, and screw up my curls, giving me a finger-in-the-lightsocket effect!

My hair is one of the prettiest things about me, and having it look good increases my level of confidence. Getting it cut off would really mess with me.

My hair is my one vanity.  I didn't like having auburn hair all the time when I was younger, but now I can't imagine it any other way.  Sure, I wish it was smooth and swingy, and it isn't ideal to wear it down much of the time because I work in a conservative field and it is wavy and not professional down.  And anyway, I like it back off my face.  But in an updo with hairsticks that coordinate with whatever I am wearing, it is very distinctive.  My hair is "me" so if it was different, I wouldn't feel right.  

On the old original LongLocks listserv, we used to have a subscriber who had beautiful, thick long hair.  Her husband found one day that someone had cut off a big lock of her hair from the back of her head (an inch wide or so, if I recall correctly) and she never even knew it!  She could only speculate that it had occured on the bus she took to work in the morning.  Even though she could arrange her hair to hide it fairly easily, I remember how violated she felt.  I think the whole incident bothered me almost as much as it bothered her.  Still sends shivers down my spine.

wrote on Dec 27^th, 2002 at 3:00pm:

My hair is "me" so if it was different, I wouldn't feel right.

I know exactly how you feel, I was having this same, err... "conversation" with hubby Richard the other night when he was tired and didn't feel like combing the knots out of my hair (it's so long that it's much easier if he does it), so he was being lazy and pulling it and tearing it.  We started to, err... "converse" and he turned into Jerky Boy and I ended up hysterically threatening to cut it off.  Things chilled eventually tho, as they always do, and I pointed out to him that if he loved me, he had to love my hair too since it is a huge part of who I am.  

Yours in the "love me, love my hair" devolution,

I am so happy that I am not the only one who feels that her hair is an important part of her personality. Many of my friends and family could not understand why I was so unhappy with my new look. But it changend my entire outer appearance completely and I could not identify with.

All through school I kept my hair so short that it was almost shaved in the back, a very popular hair style.

Then, when I was pregnant with my second child, I decided to let my hair grow to mid back.  The moment my hair hit my shoulders my father-in-law said to my husband, "So you *did* marry a girl!"  

I knew I felt pretty, but hadn't even realized that it was my hair that brought out the soft feminine side of me that had been hiding behind my very short hair.

wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2002 at 10:49pm:

How much does your hair influence your well-being? E.

For some of us, quite a bit!  I guess it depends how much your hair is part of your self-image.  I still think and move like a long-haired person, which looks kind of funny on me right now.  ;-P  I used to tell people I would no more cut off my hair than I would cut off my arm, but then the chemo thing happened and I eventually did have to cut what was left of my hair short.

I feel SO WEIRD!!  I'm still surprised when I catch myself in the mirror.  I don't know any easy way out of the "feeling lost without your hair" thing, but I DO understand and sympathize!  

~ Hasani

Think there is no way not feeling lost without hair- one has to arrange with it and try to do the best  ???

I've had short hair and now my long hair and the effect of my long hair on my life is immearsurable.  I am much more out going with my ong hair - it forces you to be the center of attention sometimes.  I was going to grow it until it hit the back of my knees or I turned 30...well that number is long gone an it is now about 2" from the back of my knees....I think I'll try for my ankles next because I don't see it getting cut any time soon.  

A really bad perm started the growing process about 20 years ago.  The only person I trust near it with scissors is my Mom...she trims it for me every 3 or 4 months.  

No matter how long or short your hair is though it is important to remember that you are a special person...If I had to get it cut off tomorrow I would be very sad but I would survive and start growing it again.  That is the great thing about hair...it forgives you for cutting it off and will grow back for you.

I had to cut off a bad perm about 10 years ago.  I cried and cried and swore I'd never get another perm.  

When I get the urge to have lots of curl I do a temp. perm with the perm rods only.   It saves a lot of tears.

You should try doing old fashioned rag curls.  They are a lot less work and a lot easier on your hair than perm rods.  Great curls too!

My grandma use to do my hair in rag curls, much easier than curlers to sleep on.  

I think she used an old nightgown for the cloth and rolled up the hair and tied the ends.  Is that right?   ???
I'd love to try them again!

wrote on Jan 27^th, 2003 at 4:35am:

My grandma use to do my hair in rag curls, much easier than curlers to sleep on.   I think she used an old nightgown for the cloth and rolled up the hair and tied the ends.  Is that right?   ??? I'd love to try them again!

LOL!  I learned to do rag curls from my grandma too, who used old sheets.  I use old sheets too, but I find flannel ones are best, so if you have an old flannel nightgown, that would work if it's long enough.

Cut strips that are at least twice the length of your hair, 2-3" wide.  I can do all my hair in four rag curls, the more curls the curlier your hair will be.

Always start with very damp hair.  Divide your hair into however many sections as you want curls.  I part mine from ear-to-ear and tie the top section up out of the way.  Then I part the lower section of hair in the middle at the back of my head.  

Put one section of hair with one strip of cloth into a ponytail using those soft ponytail holders.  Leave at least 4" or so of the strip of cloth sticking out loose at the top of the ponytail holder.  You will be using this to tie the rag curl at the end.

Comb the hair in the ponytail so it is very smooth, it's important to do this to avoid knotting when you take the rags out.  Hold the cloth out straight (if your hair is really long, you are probably going to need someone to help you with this) and wrap the HAIR around the CLOTH, working down the length of the cloth in spiral.  When you get to the end, start wrapping the CLOTH around the HAIR and work your way back up again.  You have to wrap the cloth in the opposite direction you wrapped the hair, or it will come loose when you get to the top.  You should end up with a tube of cloth with no hair showing by the time you get back to the hair tie.  Tie the two ends of cloth together and you are done your first curl.  Repeat as necessary ;)

Keep in mind that your hair will take awhile to dry, especially if you only do a few curls.  It takes my hair about 24 hours to dry thoroughly in rag curls, but starting with it wet is really the only way to do it to make the curls stay in my hair.  Once your hair is dry, untie the ends and unwrap the rag from around the hair until it hangs loose at the bottom of the curl.  Grasp the hair tie firmly in your hair and gently pull the rag out of the hair tie and through the long spiral curl.  If you kept the hair smooth when you were wrapping the curl, the cloth should come out easily.  Slide the hair tie off your hair.  Once all the curls are out, finger comb to separate the curls or comb them for a massive head of big hair.

Spiral curls!!!  I remember those.  Grandma did them only in the summer.  She would do them in the morning and I had a little ruffled cap to wear all day to keep my hair clean.  The next morning she would take out the rags and make long Shirley Temple curls all over my head.   :D  

I called my mom to ask her how grandma did the "little pillows" that I loved to sleep on.  I still hate sleeping in braids.  

When my hair was *almost dry* she would use a strip of cloth (8"?) and starting at the bottom roll my hair up to the top and tie it.  Or, she would use a damp cloth on my dry hair if it was bedtime because I wasn't allowed to sleep with damp hair.

I tried it last night and it was frustrating to do by myself!  

I finally started by tieing a knot around the section of hair, brought the knot to the end and started rolling it up.  I only did 4 sections so I wouldn't wake up with too much hair.  This morning I have lots of soft curls.   :D

If it is rolled loosly you have little pillows to sleep on.    ;D

My variation of the rag curls are "sock" curls.  I use a clean (duh! ;) ) tube sock or cotton crew sock, wrap my hair around it up to my neck, then tie the sock in a knot.  Sometimes I will use 2 socks, one for each side.  The more socks, the curlier the hair!  ;D

Sock curls would be extra soft pillows.
A good way to use all of the unmated knee socks that I have in the dead sock pillow case.   :D

Dead sock pillow case????  How cruel!  I am sure your socks are running away in fear!  No wonder you have so many unmatched socks!  Set your socks free!  Tie them in your hair! ::)

But I must admit, my hubby laughs at my mismatched sock head!  :D

ROTFLMHO!!!!

I'm quite into astrology, and supposedly if you trim your hair on the day of the new moon, it will grow longer faster, and if you cut it on the full moon, it will maintain it's length for longer. For those of you growing your hair, March 3 is the next new moon!

wrote on Jan 30^th, 2003 at 2:00am:

ROTFLMHO!!!!

Lemme guess... Rolling On The Floor Laughing My Hair Off?  ;)

That's classic!!  I'm glad someone clarified that!

By the way,  I tried the sock curls last week and LOVE them!!!  

Has anyone tried the cornrows that were suggested to try to hide growing out bangs?  Although I don't have bangs, I thought it was a nice change.  I am having problems with the hair slipping through the clips.  I have tried three different sized clips (with the smallest being so small it's hard to hold on to) and am still having difficulty.  Any suggestions  ???  

Glad you liked the sock curls  :D

I have a hard time keeping those little clips in my hair as well.  :P  I did find a headband that had the clips attached which works great!  :)  Another suggestion would be to put a little styling product in your hair, then put the clips in.  I use 100% aloe vera on my hair to tame those little wispies and give me a little sun protection on my hair.  It give just enough body to my hair that the clips will stay a bit better.

Have you tried crisscrossing bobby pins over the twisted sections? That holds it quite well.

I haven't tried styling products or criss crossed bobby pins.  I will now!

Thanks

I know the hair should be damp when you put the socks in, are there any other conditions? Do I need to put something to help the curls stay? Although my hair is naturally curly (I think!!) the day after I wash it, my curls disappear and it's *slightly* wavy or straight. So I really want those curls  :P

I roll my hair around the socks when it is damp or dry.  I usually put a little jojoba oil on the ends before I roll it.  My hair is fairly straight and does not hold a curl well, but the socks work better than anything else for me.  I usually use two socks, one on each side, but if I divide my hair into more sections, the curl is "tighter".

Just give it a try and experiment a bit to find what works for you!  For instance, if you want more of a spiral curl, you could use a longer tube sock.  You can stuff the sock with other socks for more of a wave or bigger curl.  Have fun and let us know what works for you! :D

Ooh - it works when your hair is dry? I doubt mine will. Tomorrow is my washing hair day so I'll just dampen my hair tonight with a water spray and try the sock curls. And if it turns out badly I can wash it out!

I'm still not sure what my hair is (curly, wavy, straight)  :-/ but I like the fact that I can have it either way. What I used to do before is braid my hair when it's damp and wait for a few hours, then when I unbraided it I would have a few curls. Of course the more braids you do the better it will work though I'm not sure it will work if your hair is dead straight.

When I don't wash my hair for a few days though, it's straight and it's layered for about half an inch at the bottom and there's a slight wave there. I've tried putting a roller there to get rid of it but it won't go away! Do you have any method of getting the kinks out (I *refuse* to resort to blow drying!!)?

I think E. has all the fun. Her hair is so curly and beautiful!!  :P

Yes, I have braided my hair to get tighter waves in my hair, but it tends to get "kinky" with smaller braids.  A single braid gives more waves which I like.  I have also put my hair in twin twists, then rolled them with the socks.  This curls the ends as well as adding waves.

As for removing waves, I'm afraid I don't have much to suggest other than brushing that area out to try to straighten it.  Maybe brushing with the hair slightly damp(not wet).

Hmm. When my hair is wet it's very wavy so I don't think brushing it while wet will work. I could try that pantyhose thing. Oh I have a question - what do you do with your hair when you sleep? I always french/dutch braid mine.

I french braid, twin braid, twin twist, nylon "bag", or sock roll my hair at night, depending on how I want it to look in the morning.  I do not sleep with it loose - it would be a mass of tangles in the morning.  I do sleep on a satin pillowcase to minimize tangles and matting.

Sock curls won't work on me :S. Nothing ever ever causes my hair to tangle. But I put the sock in and when I knotted it, it fell down so I opened it and was left with a total MASS of tangles (but of course my hair was damp so it was easy to comb through). I don't understand what I did wrong! Why won't it work?

When you tie the sock, you must be sure to tie it on the "outside" of the hair.  Hmmm, to try to describe this, if I was rolling the hair towards my body (to curl under), I would tie the sock on the side of hair that is away from my body.  Then when the hair tries to unroll the sock, the tied portion holds it in place.  Some socks I must tie in a knot for them to hold.

Is there anyone else who is just in the growing stage?

Me  ;) And yesterday I found out it is long enough to style the knotted bun  ;D Not much hair to hang out after knotting but it works. Hope I´ll reach a reasonable length again.

A knotted bun - I love those!  I bet it looks really cute with your curls loose.  

What's a knotted bun?  :-[

For a knotted bun you take your hair as if you wanted to make a high ponytail. Twist it, knot it, fix it on your head  ;) With long hair the rest of your hair will show as a ponytail hanging out of the knot. With hair like mine  :( there are only the tips showing.

So you twist it like you would for a bun, and then pull the hair through? Do you fix it with hairsticks?

Yes...if you want not to show the fixing use little pins.

Another option for when your hair is longer - twist the hair as for putting in a bun, start to tie the knot, but don't pull the ends all the way through.  Use hairstick(s) to hold the modified bun in place.  This will leave a tail hanging down from the bottom of the bun.

I didn't realize how tied into my identity my hair was until this year.  Years ago I had it very long, and during my first divorce I not only cut it off, I had it clipped to within an inch of my head!  What is the psychology on THAT? I know I'm not the only one who has reacted to circumstances by ruining her locks.

Since then it has hovered between chin-to-shoulder length.  During this time, I went through ANOTHER marriage (disastrous-started great but Hubby 2 discovered other women), MAJOR relocation to a different part of the country where I had no contacts and was surrounded by hostiles.  Probably due to stress I had big health problems two years ago, followed up by a diagnosis of depression last year!  Don't feel sorry for me, because I have fought my way through, which is sort of the point of this little missive.  My treatment for the depression took time, but I saw consistent improvement.  This past winter, when I was coming out of the last of it, seemed to be the hardest part to get through.  I was happier, I was functioning better, my husband (3) was wonderful and patient, everything LOOKED better, but I was left feeling like I had lost ME, or at least the me I knew before things got out of hand.  What to do?  A counselor can only take you so far, and I figured if I was missing in action, I was the only one who could get me over that last hill.

One thing I did was to quit thinking too hard about it!  I started getting off my buns and doing things, even little things - like I got a few houseplants, tried to improve my cooking, listening to new music.  Last November, when my (rather snooty) stylist cut my hair up to chin length, I politely requested that next time perhaps we could leave it a little longer.  His reply? "Not until I tell you you can."  Honestly!  I have never been back.  

This started me on the road to growing out my hair, which led me to search out long hair sites on my computer, which led me to LongLocks, and so forth.  I really took an interest in growing my hair back out, and some funny things happened.  I have now purchased many beautiful stix and hair ornaments, and take pleasure in styling my hair.  I have taken to hanging out at the Lancome counter when I occasionally get to town, and I wear makeup to work every morning.  I have dropped 20 pounds since January, and have totally changed my eating habits.  From a total wreck on the couch I have gone to running/walking vigorously almost every day, with Iyengar yoga on days I don't run.  I have taken more interest in my mare, who stood idle during my illness. Now I have a goal - drop the rest of my weight, get my cardio-vascular as good as possible, and look into maybe endurance racing with her!

Here's the point - at some time in the past several months I realized that I was back, ME the girl I knew, the one my parents raised to be happy and joyful.  What was the final trigger that helped propel me all the way back?  Was it that moment when I asked my stylist for something for ME? MY HAIR?  It doesn't seem like much, but I will tell you that as soon as I made the decision to grow it back out until Kingdom Come, the other changes seemed to follow.  I am convinced that for some of us, our hair is absolutely tied into our identity, our self-awareness and our feelings of well-being.

Sorry this was so long to make a small point, but I would also like to let all of you know that this site has been a blessing for me.  I haven't posted much, but I read a lot, and it's so nice to hear what other women have to say.  Also, Rapunzel is just great, professionally and personally. This just makes for a lovely "community."

Wow Lilly, what a great, positive post even without the kudos!  And thank you for making my day too, I'm all teary-eyed!

:::sniff::: :}

Oh, gee!  

Maybe I should write soap operas or heaving bosom novels in my spare time!


I certainly have the material!:D

Last summer I went through a bout of depession, something that caught all of us completely unaware.  The doctor had me try to trace it back to it's beginning and one of the first signs was my not taking care of my hair properly.

This past summer I caught myself falling into the very same pit, only it was a much faster and more dangerous depression.  When I realized what was happening I rembered last year and knew exactly what I had to do. I ran to Longlocks and looked up some hair treatments to make me feel pampered. I also ordered a couple of new hair sticks  ;D

After a few days of spoiling my hair (spoiling me and building up my confidence) I was ready to handle the *real* problem.  

I am not going to need the antidepressants this time because I recognised the problem before I was completely overwhelmed.  

I have had to make a few hard decissions and the reward for hanging in there will be a pretty new blouse to go with my new hairsticks. ;D  

My hair has literally saved my life, and credit also must go to longlocks for being here in the middle of the night.
Thank you Rapunzel for the recipies that gave me something good to do "just for me", for the message boards that made me see that I'm not alone, and for the pretty hairsticks.  

Wow!  Should I be charging doctor's fees?  LOL!

Sometimes the little things we do for ourselves is exactly the medicine we need, eh?  I'm glad LongLocks played some small part in your quick recovery but methinks your fortitude and ability to know yourself played the most important part.  Good job!  I wish I was as astute when trouble (usually in the form of stress) comes at me.

I was suspecting trouble, fleeting urges to call my doctor were ignored until I ended up in the emergency room Aug 3rd.  

I had been washing dishes and accidently cut the inside of my left wrist on my favorite coffee cup that had broken in the sink.  The strange thing was that I hadn't noticed that I was cut clear to the bone.  It didn't hurt at all.  Luckilly only one small tendon was sliced and no arteries were cut.

Even with this wake-up call it still took almost a week before I realized that I had a problem with depression.  

I have a tendency to not want to make hard decisions.  I have a very nice woman and her 3 children living in my rental who has not paid rent since May. Her husband left her for a woman 10 years older than her.  She has no job and nowhere to go.  Needless to say, I need the rent money to pay the mortgage.  But I *hate* the idea of going to court to have her thrown into the street.  I've been praying that her mom would offer to help her but her mom is not willing to help at all.

Tomorrow I am going to ask her to pay the rent or to move, one more time.  If she won't, then I'm going to a property management place.  I'll hire them to evict her and to manage the rental for 6 months or until I can face being a landlady again.  I've heard that an eviction is simple to do on your own, but I just can't face doing it.  After 3 months I see that doing nothing has not solved her problem and is making my problem worse.

This decission is compounded by the fact that my son, his wife, and my 4 grandchildren are living in their van conversion.  They had been "providing" drugs out of my home last summer and I had to put them on the street before I lost my house to drug enforcement.

If I rent the house to them, and they start "providing" drugs out of the rental, I'll loose the house and may even be arrested.  My grandchildren could be put into a foster home because the court would not let me have them because I had "provided a place for drugs to be stored".  

The management place can do the eviction and they would not rent to my son because they don't qualify financially.  It looks as if I've found a way to handle the both problems by finding a qualified person to do what I cannot do.

Once the hard decissions are made I can start making the easy ones, like do I wash the windows this weekend or shampoo the carpets.  I'd rather go camping!!!

Wow, sounds like you have plenty of reason to be depressed!  I don't envy your position, but I do envy your ability to remain relatively calm while you work to find a solution to your problem.  When I get stressed (which is more often LongLocks related than not, usually because I said yes to too much custom work and then I feel like I am disappointing people with the wait), I generally get in bed with a large bag of Wilbur Buds and chase them with several glasses of good red wine!  Chocolate and French wine... two great tastes that don't taste great together :P

LOL!!!
Sounds delightful  :D

Oh, honey - my heart goes out to you.  However, it is good that you are able to face decision-making now.  What I see happening that is even better than decision-making, though, is that you are going to take Action, which is harder.  That is wonderful.

You are dealing with some really Bad People.  So did my husband and I, over about a three year-period.  The stress involved in these situations does not go away, ever, until the situation itself has been fully resolved.  Our situation triggered my episode/s, most certainly.  My counselor waited until my last visit (when I was much improved) to tell me that she was an inch away from hospitalizing me when I first came to her.  She said she saw some fight left somewhere in me, thank God.

Hubby and I were thrust into a situation rife with Bad People, all of whom had families.  When we were given management of this business, we were brought in from another state.  Our decision to keep all current employees, rather than fire across the board and start with new, was based on the fact that almost all of these people had children.  One of these families lived on-site, in company housing.  They turned out to be the worst of a bad bunch.  

Some of the Bad People were pretty obvious about it (though they thought they were sneaky).  Some of them were absolute snakes in the grass who were only flushed out over time, including our personal assistant, whom I had become close to, and confided in.  We had no contacts in this place, no family, no support base.

Husband and I did everything we could for these people from the minute we got here.  Set up an insurance plan, tried to make jobs as stable as possible, even gave a few personal loans.  Our mistake, in their view, was expecting them to actually work, not steal from the company, and have no further shady dealings with contractors.  They did not like this.  Not at all.

Mysterious things began to happen.  Understand, this mostly occurred in slow motion, over two or three years.  Our house was robbed three times (we live in the middle of Nowhere) with no sign of forced entry.  The only things taken were personal items, little of monetary value, but always things of great personal or emotional value.  Hubby's hunting gear, antique fishing lures given to him by his father.  My wedding dress and nicer clothes (granted, I didn't have many nicer clothes, living pretty much in Wranglers).  Then it escalated.  A substance was planted in our home on a day when it was scheduled to be visited by an outside maintenance service.  Luckily, I found it first and called the authorities.

From there, things escalated and became even scarier.   I was followed.  Threats were made.  At one point, we had to leave our home for several weeks and go into hiding.

I will cut this off for the sake of not wanting to be the next female Tolstoy.  What we learned is that when you find out that you are dealing with Bad People, you can only go so far in trying to help them, or save them. Unfortunately, these people always seem to have innocents attached to them, which makes it really hard to deal with them decisively.  It sounds to me as though you did all you could, but at some point, they were able to get in your head (as they did mine).  We learned that if you give them enough slack in the rope, they will not only take it, they will run with it.  And they will drag their children and families, whom you probably can't help, and they will drag YOU.  My dear, you and I have been dragged through some pretty rough patches, haven't we?  But let's look at our situations now.  You have learned enough about your situation to act on it, and to figure out how it has affected you, and to take action to save yourself. Give yourself a lot of credit - many victims never get that far.  

Out of all the pithy platitudes I have encountered in my journey back from wherever I was, only one seemed to help me, and still does, so I'll give it to you:

Winning is getting up just one more time.

It sounds to me like you are still involved in resolving this situation, as well as making your personal journey.  Whether your obstacles are big (asking for outside help from the management service) or seem small (do I bother getting out of bed/dressed/wash face/brush hair) - just stand up.  One more time.

May God bless you and shine the light upon you.

You guys are such inspirations!  I love this board :)

Well, I gave them 10 more days.  When I got to the house her husband and his girlfriend were just leaving.  He said they would either have the rent or be moved out by the 31st.

I pray they move!  Yes, the rent would be nice, but I'd give it up just to get out of the mess.

Thank you for the advice.  I will stand up, one more time.

You both are an example of how resilient we can be.  You can be proud that you have survived the difficult times and look forward to better times.  

My hat if off and hair is down to you both.  Hang in there and don't forget to take care of yourselves.

I've decided on my reward!  I'm going to put some pretty raspberry streaks in my hair to accent my new hairsticks  :D

My daughter is ready to do it today, but I'll wait until the 1st.

Not just standing, I'm reaching for the stars!!!

Love & Prayers,
Linda

Thank you bikerbraid, your post reminded me that you had encouraged me to have fun with my hair.  54 isn't too old!!!  

wrote on Aug 24^th, 2003 at 9:46pm:

I've decided on my reward!  I'm going to put some pretty raspberry streaks in my hair to accent my new hairsticks  :D My daughter is ready to do it today, but I'll wait until the 1st. Not just standing, I'm reaching for the stars!!! Love & Prayers, Linda Thank you bikerbraid, your post reminded me that you had encouraged me to have fun with my hair.  54 isn't too old!!!

You go girl!   :D

Yee - haw!  Cowgirl up on it!

I ended up getting rid of my grey hair LOL!  

My daughter caught me wanting to do *something* and it didn't take her long to figure out what I needed.  We decided to have a mother-daughter day.  We dropped off the kids at school and took off to spend the day with no worries.  :)

She took me to her favorite bakery for coffee, then we got new bras on sale at Mervyns, then new black shoes and purses on sale at Payless, lunch at her favorite little restaurant down town, a new dress at the consignment shop, and then to a hair dressers where she had made me an appointment and even prepaid the bill "for whatever my mom wants".  A 41 year old pregnant women with long hair, Bra length, did my hair!  She asked if I wanted it cut and was pleased when I said only a tiny trim!  She suggested lowlights a couple shades lighter than my brown hair and it is beautiful.  The grey streaks that were left undyed glisten like silver in the sunlight.  :D  

I walked into the house at 6pm and the grandchildren were in shock at their new grandma.  My husband grinned from ear to ear.  It is so nice to see myself in the mirror again.  I guess I wasn't ready to go grey yet.

Now the raspberry streaks won't stand out like I had planned.  Think I'll look for a hair piece with raspberry streaks.  I've seen one that goes around a pony, but I think I want long pieces, or thin braids.  Decisions, decisions LOL  ;D

Love & Prayers,
Linda

Sounds like you had a wonderful experience!  I'm happy to hear that you like your new look and that you shared a great day with your daughter, too.

                   :)Lots of warm fuzzies! :)