Hello Motherhood, Good-Bye Beauty Routine

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I wake up every morning at 7am, I take a nice hot shower, I do my hair, I put on my makeup until it’s just right, then after staring at my closet for approximately 30 minutes, put on the nice, clean clothes I’m going to wear that day. And oh yeah, don’t forget the super cute new boots I just got at the mall that will go great with my outfit!

Um. No.

That may be how my mornings used to go, before kids, but now it’s a whole other picture. Before, my mornings were calm and serene and I left the house cool, like Mona Lisa. Now my mornings (and life) are way more like a Jackson Pollock painting. Nobody tells you, even when you’re nine months pregnant, that you will not look as well rested and put together as you do at that moment again for a long time (i.e. years). As soon as you hold that baby in your arms, your self-maintenance goes right out the window.

But why?

I can’t speak for everyone but some of the culprits for me include:

Being in a zombie state. No one cares too much about what their face looks like or if their clothes smell when they are overly tired from being woken up somewhere between two and two hundred times a night. I’m too tired to try to make myself look pretty, or even remotely presentable some mornings. Some days I don’t think I remembered that I owned a mirror…or a brush.

Safety. I used to straight iron my hair every. single. day. Now there is no way my kids are going to let me have ten minutes to myself so that I can work with a beauty tool that reaches 392 degrees. I don’t even trust myself to plug it in in a room that is under lock and key; my kids will find a way in and hightail it right to the most unsafe thing in the room.

Money, money, money. Before I became one, I used to hear other mothers say that they now spend all their money on their kids, not any on themselves. I thought these ladies were exaggerating a bit. And ok, they were, but now I totally get it. I used to buy beauty products and clothes for myself regularly, now it’s a lot more infrequent. First of all, being a stay at home mom, I don’t need many fancy clothes. I have three of the same shirt in three different colors that I rotated and wore all summer (not planned, but embarrassingly true). I could not have gotten away with that going into an office. Also, the cost of makeup is not cheap. Even discount store prices are starting to rival high-end department stores.

So am I exaggerating? Yes, but it is sort of humorous how easily it is to lose yourself in your newfound motherhood. Self-care is no joke and should be a priority for all moms. After all, you can’t drink from an empty cup.