Making the Cut

What is it about pregnant women that makes them cut their hair?

Back in the fall when I was still getting used the idea of being pregnant, when I was living on a diet of Saltines and orange juice and trying not to fall asleep in my chair at work, I decided I had to cut my hair. It wasn't that long -- shoulder-length -- but I just had to get it chopped.

Unfortunately, I had to have it done right the second I decided I wanted it cut. I drove to the salon down the street. I won't say the name of the place, but it's a chain and they claim to be masters of the hair-cutting profession. The result was not good. It was as if the woman just hacked at my hair until it was chin-length. The layers looked like a six-year-old found some scissors and went to work while I was asleep. It was not even close to the cute bob that I had in mind.

I have been growing it out ever since. I did have a trim with a professional in early spring, but that was mostly because all of a sudden I decided I needed bangs. Will I never learn?

The good news: my hair is growing out.

The bad news: my hair is growing out. And, now that I have a baby, I haven't been able to find time to get to the salon to get a trim.

Kevin Corcoran with the Shaggy Dog in the 1959 Disney film, "The Shaggy Dog."

If my mom saw me now she'd tell me I look like the Shaggy Dog -- something she used to say right before she booked me for a hair cut when I was growing up. For those of you who have never seen Disney's 1959 classic, "The Shaggy Dog," starring Fred MacMurray I recommend picking it up at the video store or ordering it from NetFlix. (Disney remade it a couple of years ago starring Tim Allen -- I can't vouch for that version. Frankly, the present-day Shaggy Dog looks way too well-groomed.)

Tori Spelling in an episode of "Tori & Dean."

I noticed celebrities cut their hair when they are pregnant, too. I've been slightly addicted to the "reality" show "Tori & Dean" (Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on Oxygen), which follows Tori Spelling and her husband in their daily adventures. She's pregnant with her second child in this season's episodes and her hair is short again -- it's a cute bob, the very one that I wanted last fall!

My guess is that Tori went to someone more skilled than a hair "master." Perhaps she went to a guru.