Hair!

Millie Monday's

You know, growing up with seven girls in one house meant large quantities of hair.  I mean a lot.  Most of us kept long hair too, and for some reason the combination of our mother's curly hair and our father's stick straight but crazy thick hair meant we all had a LOT of hair.  Growing up we all had to use two or three hair ties to keep our pony tails up.  There were always bobby pins, scrunchies, hair ties and banana clips around the house (do you remember those awesome things?).  After years of maturing and having babies, most of us have lost some of our thickness, but all in all I'd say I come from a family with really good hair.  I just thought we'd take a stroll down memory lane.  Sorry to my sisters, maybe I should have asked permission to post these pictures, but oh well, it's all in good fun!

Sunee (right) and Katie (left) sporting the buffalo head

The famous buffalo head hair do.  Our brother J.B. mentioned these beauties in his post a while back.  I wasn't alive at this point, I think this was in 1986, but still this was a classic time for the family, oh the perms!  The trend of the perm lasted a while, as you'll soon see. 

Rindi -1996- long, permed pony tail

Stalee -1996 - Permed, probably going to a dance

Here are two more examples of the perms of the past, and these pictures demonstrated the beauty of the Haws girl hair.  I bet that if you went out today and asked boys from our high school what they remembered about the Haws girls, hair might be one of the things they mention.

 Then came the summer of '96 when Judi and I convinced our mom to let us chop all of our hair off, and surprisingly she let us!  I was very much a tom-boy and most of the time I didn't care that I looked like a boy.  Judi on the other hand chose a very sassy, stylish and feminine hair cut (I say that because my hair is cut in a very similar way now).

Millie (left) and Judi (right)

Like I said I didn't really mind looking like a boy most of the time, that is until Sunday rolled around.  I hated looking like a boy in a dress.  Also I was often mistaken for a boy.  This is a true story; one day we stopped at a gas station to use their restrooms.  I was wearing a hot pink skirt outfit and Judi was dressed to match in a lime green outfit.  We asked where the bathrooms were, the worker told us where and then said, "But I'm cleaning the men's room so you can just use the women's."  It wasn't until we got in the bathroom that we realized the worker thought we were boys!

There were many times that my sisters begged my mom to pierce my ears or something so that I would look more girlish.  But when my hair grew long enough my mom thought of an idea to make my hair a little more girlie, can you guess what it was?  That's right, a PERM!

Six of the sisters in the Caribbean - 1996 -Starting top left and going clockwise - Rindi, Stalee, Katie, Joni, Judi, and Little Orphan Annie...No wait, that's Me!

Mother's of the world!  Listen to me right now, never, never perm your red-headed daughter's hair when it is short!  The only time that it is acceptable is if they are a brilliant singer, dancer and actor and have an amazing chance of snatching the roll of the orphan Annie on Broadway.  Otherwise, I'd say wait for the perm...

Since then my hair has grown and changed a lot.  It was the longest it's ever been when I got married and it was very pretty.

Engagement pictures, November 2008

But a few months after we got married I started having this really intense nudging that I should donate my hair.  The thought of a little red-headed girl who had cancer and needed a wig kept coming to my mind.   So finally we did it.  I chopped 12 inches off of my hair.  It was devastating, Robert and I cried ourselves to sleep that night.  I was left with a bob, and a poorly cut one at that, but I kept getting a peaceful feeling in my heart, some little child had a beautiful wig because of my sacrifice. 

From that moment both Robert and I knew that I was going to grow my hair out again, and the process began.  Luckily I became pregnant with Aurora a few months later and all of those pregnancy hormones really helped the hair growth.  Here's some visual aid:

October 2009 about six or so months pregnant

Jan. 2010 - a week or two after Aurora was born.

Dec. 2010 - A month or so before I cut it again.

So it all grew back, and almost two years exactly after cutting my hair the first time, I did it again.  I cut ten inches off of my hair.  I needed a change, and I was thrilled that there was enough to donate.  Now I start the process again.  It will take me a while, but eventually I will get my hair back.  Maybe this will be the cycle of my life, continuously growing and cutting.  I'm not the first sister to donate my hair.  With a family of so many girls with great hair, several of us have sent hair to Locks of Love.  We love to give, and believe me, we have lots of hair to give!

-Millie