One advantage of being a stay-at-home mom/writer is the wardrobe. I don’t have to wear uncomfortable clothing, or have the slightest bit of style. Heck, it’s actually a good idea not to get dressed in “real” clothes until I’m about to leave the house, because I’ll get baby food/cat hair on them anyway.

But despite the fact that no one cares how I look at home, I’ve realized that I like looking good, not for others, but for me. I feel better when I look better, and that makes me more energetic and productive. So I recently decided to update my mommy-casual look. I started with some new clothes and a fresh style perspective (I’ll talk about those in next weekend’s post). But the major transformation happened on Friday, when I went to get the shortest haircut of my entire life.

For those of you who don’t know me in “real life” or haven’t seen me in a few years, here’s what my hair looked like before Friday, when I actually took the time to blow-dry, flat-iron and style it (which happens about 2% of the time because my hair is SO thick and hard to work with).

It looks nice, right? (So does my handsome hubby.) But the thing is, it almost never looked that way, because I hated spending all that time. The other 98% of the time, I was wearing it back, either parted on the side and held back with a clip, or parted on the side and knotted in a bun (with the help of several hair ties and bobby pins). I decided if I was going to be wearing one style every day, it might as well be something more interesting and quicker to dry.

And so here I am, post-cut (and with a few highlights added):

(I apologize for the small, grainy iPhone photo. I really have to dig out my halfway-decent camera and post some better pics.)

So far, I’m loving short hair. It took me about 12 hours to get used to having bangs hovering near my eyes, and I found a cute way to pin them back if it bothers me again. I also found that it looks great with headbands, and I can now wear my favorite hats without having to pin my hair in an awkward bun to hide underneath.

What do you think? Have you ever undergone a major hairstyle change? What was it like?

Stay Tuned for tomorrow’s gratitude series post, and part 2 of “My Stay-At-Home Style Makeover” next weekend!