This is me. If you don’t know me personally, I look like any other mom out there. But if you do know me: Holy Hannah, I had bangs!
It was one of those decisions. My baby girl was about four-months-old, so precious and oh so demanding. I also had three other small children at home, all under the age of seven. I was blessed to stay home with my babies, but this meant that I worked a full-time job online. I often felt so scattered between all of the things I needed to do that nothing really got done. My job, my house, and my family was all in some sort of disarrayed chaos.
My husband had also recently started his construction business. If you’ve ever worked with a start-up company, you know that, in the beginning, there’s not a lot of help. We had a lot of long, hard days with him being gone 12-14 hours, six days a week. With no family near, I often felt like I was treading water — doing everything I could to keep from drowning. Life was stressful.
With that background, you’ll understand my sentiments when I say that I needed something to change.
Life had trapped me in, and I needed something to pull me out of the rut. I needed something drastic. So there you go. In a moment where my dear friend volunteered to watch my four kids, I decided to treat myself to a hair trim, which led to taking six inches off, which led to a moment when I said those fateful words: “Why don’t you just cut bangs?” 
Unfortunately, my decision wasn’t met with the same kind of enthusiasm from everyone in my family. My young son cried when he first saw me. “I liked your old hair!,” he kept saying amid the tears. My husband’s reaction wasn’t much better. When he arrived home that night and first saw my hair, he said (very tactfully, I might add), “Oh no! What did you do?” While these weren’t the reactions I had hoped for, they didn’t take away from my excitement with my new style.
I won’t be going back to that hairstyle any time soon, but I don’t regret cutting bangs.
If I’m being perfectly honest, looking back, this was not my favorite hair cut. My hair dresser was young, inexperienced, and didn’t even cut my bangs straight. They were uneven, too thick and laid heavy on my forehead. And they itched! The rest of my hair fell in one blunt layer, with no texturing or hint of volume. It wasn’t my best fashion choice, but the cut gave me what I needed.
There were so many things in life at the point that I had no control over. How many times would I wake up with my baby? Would my three-year-old throw a tantrum because (heaven forbid) I gave him the wrong color cup? How many parents would I need to meet with to ensure my students’ online work was turned in? When would my husband be home? I needed a change and bangs were a harmless choice.
Please don’t take this as your sign to cut bangs. Rather, if you find yourself in a similar rut, look for the things you CAN change.
Hairstyles aren’t permanent. My bangs and choppy hair didn’t really hurt anyone. (I promise my son recovered quickly.) Sometimes, it’s exactly what you need to dig yourself out of a mental health crisis. It may seem simple, but cutting bangs gave me renewed energy for life and my daily tasks. Something was different. I spent an extra five minutes of self-care to style my bangs. People talked with me about something different. I earned something new.
My advice to you is to find the small things that you can change to help out wherever you are at. Maybe it’s cutting bangs. Maybe it’s joining the local yoga group at the library or taking your children to a Parent’s Day Out at the local church. Maybe it’s going out to eat alone so that you can have one meal in solitude. 
If cutting bangs is the worst drastic change I make in my life, I’m probably okay. No, they weren’t pretty. No, I wouldn’t do it now. But right now, I don’t need bangs. Three years later, I am in a different situation — living in a different state and my husband has a different job. My children are a few years older and I don’t need the bangs today.
When you find what you need to carry on in motherhood, do it. You’ve got this girl.
This article is not meant as a discussion on postpartum depression and anxiety. Those are very real mental health challenges that should be addressed by a medical professional. There is no shame in reaching out for help.
