Hair woes

There are some pretty strange and/or terrible symptoms of being pregnant: being constantly dead-tired, having your gums bleed, bloating so bad you look like you swallowed a Thanksgiving turkey even in the first month or two, wanting to throw up when you look at things like onions.

Another I've had is my hair has gotten really CURLY! I've always had a little wave, but my hair has gotten this weird kinky curl thing going on, and I just don't know how to deal with it! I hate blow-dryers. I don't like products. I have no artistic vision. Some women can and do it well...I suck at hair.

I have had bad experiences getting my hair cut in Stockholm. It's expensive for nearly all salons. I've tried those on the cheaper end since I don't think it is worth $60+ for my 1 cm trim, but I have never liked what I walked out with. Once, my hair was a half inch longer on one side of my head. Another time, she didn't even wash it...she just sprayed it with water, which she got all over my face, and then it didn't even look like I got it cut.

Part of that, I think, has to do with the fact that the stylists in a lot of these lower-end places are not actually Swedish, and as immigrants, many speak pretty terrible English. I realize how that sounds...I live in Sweden, I don't expect everyone to cater to my English. But when you are getting your hair cut and they don't understand my mime act to describe 'layers' (much less the word itself!), communication is pretty darn important! And then you spend the next 30 minutes in complete silence as they spritz & clip.

The last place I went to a few months ago was much nicer & pricier, and the guy gave me a a scalp massage and spent a lot of time and care to cut my hair. I walked out with a flat-ironed blunt cut...it looked really good. For 2 or 3 days. Until I washed it. You can't blunt-cut wavy hair! I've been cone-shaped for weeks now.

So now it is *curly*. I have desperately needed a trim or something, but I decided to go with the opposite end. There is a hair school 2 blocks from our place, and it is always packed! They only charge 120kr for a wash & cut ($18) and the stylists are young, hip, and Swedish. I actually had a great experience. When she wasn't quite sure when I was describing the shape of the layers I wanted, she got a book of images! When in doubt, look at pictures. But her English was perfect, so we ended up chatting the entire time...it was almost like I was in a different country. And granted, it took longer than it needed to, so by the end of the hour and a half, I was *starving,* but totally worth it to not have a weird-shaped head for the foreseeable future.

But man, I hope these curls go away after this baby is born.