Change is GOOD

My mom's birthday was Saturday.  A few weeks ago when the family and I had been down there for our weekend trip, my sister and I came to the consensus that it was high time Mom had her hair done.  Professionally.  Because, God love her, the woman has coarse, thick hair and hadn't *really* done anything with it since... well, at least 1986.  I know because that's as early as my memory goes, and while I think she's cut it short once or twice in the last 25 years, it's always the same hair, just a different length.

So I told Mom that for her birthday gift this year, I'd take her to go see my hair girl, Billie, and have her hair done.  Mom was pretty nervous about the whole idea, but she agreed to go.

When she came up yesterday, I told her that of COURSE I had to take before and after photos.  This was 'before.'  Note the mass quantity of hair.  It's not BAD hair.  There's just a lot of it.  And it makes my mom's already thin face look thinner.

M2 wanted to go with us to get a trim, so we three girls piled into the car and headed for the salon.

The first thing Billie did after we decided what color to dye the hair was to take off some of the length.  That helped a lot. 

Then she dyed every single hair on my mom's head.  M2 was fascinated with the entire process.  I think she was most fascinated that the dye itself initially was a sort of light brown color and then turned much, much darker after it sat for a bit.  Mom couldn't see a thing without her glasses, so she had to listen to M2's exclamations about the whole process and pray that Billie was doing a good job.

Which... she did!  She always does.  Here's the official 'after' photo.  I think her hair looks fabulous, and she likes it, too.  In addition to cutting the length, Billie also had thinned out a TON of hair.  I haven't heard my sister's reaction to it yet (she's down in Florida for her sister-in-law's wedding) or my grandmother's reaction (that'll be interesting), but mom likes it, and that's all that matters.

Her one question:  "Am I going to have to come back up here and have Billie do my hair every time it needs done now?"

I told her no, but at the same time, I hope she does it once in a while!  She needs a good pampering, just like the rest of us.

Happy birthday, Mom!