The New Mom Haircut

Having kids leaves little time for dealing with a complicated hairstyle. The new mom cut is chic, effortless and actually very cool

I’ve been experiencing a major hair rut lately. I had a baby last year and my hair has taken on an outer layer of frizz due to all the strands that fell out after I gave birth. Even my trusted ponytail has not been cutting it. I have two kids under the age of four to feed, dress, and play with in the mornings, so dealing with uncooperative hair is not an option. In hopes of some help, I booked an appointment with celebrity hairstylist/salon owner/author Eva Scrivo at her airy Bond Street salon in Manhattan for a hair overhaul.

My first inclination was to cut my long hair into a bob, but I wanted to stay far away from that soccer mom/newscaster look that my hair can so easily morph into when it’s shorter. Luckily, Scrivo had the perfect solution for me—a choppy bob with square layers—similar to the style actress and new mom Ali Larter cut her hair into when she had her baby. Scrivo explained the mechanics behind the cut, which she spent nearly two hours perfecting: “The cut was done with a straight blade to the clavicle bone. Working with the collarbone is a nice point of reference when deciding the length—it’s still long enough to create a slimming, vertical line. I cut it into square layers because the shape of a square has sharp corners, which makes more of a statement than round, concave layers. Instead of doing a typical side swept bang, I kept the front a little bit longer. That asymmetry looks more unexpected and edgy.”

She also gave my color a pick-me-up by covering my graying roots with a dark blond shade from INOA – L’Oréal Professional’s line of ammonia-free color—and then adding some strategic, beachy blonde highlights to the ends using her signature balayage (hair painting) technique. The overall effect was very haute Malibu beach bum meets Brooklyn mom. I left the salon feeling incredibly chic, thanks in part to Scrivo’s sister, Vinetta, a talented makeup artist, who gave me a soft-focus—but not too overdone—look with a baby pink lip and well-defined eyes. I knew it was a hair success when I got home and my three-year-old said: “Mommy, you look like a beautiful lady.” —Melissa Schweiger

Eva Scrivo’s tips on how to get the haircut you want:

- Bring in pictures of haircuts you want and also of haircuts you don’t want. “Pictures are critical, they bridge the communication gap between the stylist and client,” says Scrivo.

- Have a consultation with your stylist before you get the cut. “Talk to the stylist about the shape of the haircut you want,” advises Scrivo. “That’s when you can find out if they have the necessary training you want.”

- Ask your colorist to color you hair after you get your haircut. “Often in this industry, women are colored first then cut,” says Scrivo. “It’s not until you see the haircut that you know where the highlights should be placed."

- Tell your colorist you want a slightly imperfect look. “As colorists, we’re not trying to color every piece possible,” says Scrivo. “It’s more about placing light where you want to see it and dark where you want to see dimension.”

Eva Scrivo has two locations in New York City one at 903 Madison Avenue and the other at 50 Bond Street. For more information or to book an appointment with Eva or her makeup artist sister Vinetta, visit Eva Scrivo’s website.

Photo courtesy of Alo Ceballos/Getty Images