Between the sleepless nights and hospital monitors, self-care often slips away for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit moms, leading one local hairstylist, and former NICU mom herself, to use her chair to give back, she said.
Dakota Martin, the owner of The Balayaged Brunette, said her and her son’s 126 day stint in the NICU sparked the inspiration to provide care packages to mothers with babies in the same position at Cabell Huntington Hospital.
“I know the struggle they are facing,” Martin said. “I decided I was going to gift a haircut or blowout or anything I can do that’s going to give them a bit of time for themselves with everything going on in their lives.”
Particularly, the time spent in the NICU can be extremely isolating for mothers, often requiring additional support, she said.
“A lot of these mothers are going to continue to have struggles even when their babies leave the NICU,” Martin said. “I never really thought about it until it happened to me, but now I know how to support them in my own way.”
The care packages go beyond a free haircut or blowout, Martin said, but rather they are the gift of shared experience.
“I hope they can have a little sense that somebody understands what they are going through,” Martin said. “I want them to have an hour where they are refreshed, relaxed, and if they want to talk about their experiences, I can listen, and if they don’t, then that is fine, too.”
Giving back and community involvement has always been a priority throughout her career, with the hope to spark change amongst others to support local causes as well, she said.
“I hope that I can inspire people to help others when they can with whatever they are passionate about,” Martin said.
In terms of awareness of the struggles NICU families face, Martin said she aims for her campaign to shed light on the lasting effects of a NICU stay.
“My son is in elementary school, and still, there’s a lot of impact on his life just from being in the NICU,” Martin said. “NICU families need support outside of the hospital, and often, it’s long term.”
Every birth and postpartum experience may differ wildly, but the need for care and support afterward is always the same, she said.
“I just want those women to feel validated and to know that what they are going through is a big deal and they aren’t alone,” Martin said. “If I can spend an hour with them and make them feel more normal, then that’s what I’ll do.”
In giving back, Martin said through every snip and blowout, she hopes to remind NICU moms that support and self-care are not luxuries, but necessities.
Kaitlyn Fleming can be contacted at [email protected].
