January 13, 2010

Snip, Snip...waaah!

Haircuts are a very touchy issue for me. From about age 4 to my early 20's nearly every haircut I had was a traumatic experience. I always looked forward to getting a new 'do, but it never, ever turned out the way I imagined.
The trauma began around age four. My mom took me to her hairdresser (that was the acceptable term back then, but now I think I'm supposed to call them "hair stylists.") My mom wanted me to have short hair. I dreamed of long, flowing locks. The stylist asked me if I wanted a pixie cut. What's that, I asked. Oh, like Tinkerbell, she said. Tinkerbell? Abso-freakin-lutely! So she snipped away and then turned me toward the mirror. I was appalled. I looked like a boy! I was no Tinkerbell. To make matters worse, within minutes, a man walked into the salon for a cut, looked at me and said "Hello, young man." I was devastated! This went on for years. Every summer my mom made me chop my hair off. Fortunately she never again made me go to the drastic lengths of the pixie cut, but it irked me all the same. (In her defense, I was an active kid. I spent my summers in youth softball leagues and in the pool. Long hair probably wouldn't have been a great idea). In second grade she let me start perming my hair, so, in pictures I looked like a blonde Annie. This lasted well into junior high. Hey, at least I thought the Annie perm looked good, and all my friends were doing it.
It wasn't until I had my first job out of college as a TV reporter and had the perk of free haircuts at a fairly upscale salon that I started to relax about my hair. I was in good hands and eventually was willing to let them experiment with color, etc. Now that I'm back to paying for my haircuts and color I find I'm better at communicating my wishes to my stylists.
The past few weeks I have become quite irritated with my daughters' hair. Each and every one of them has issues. Roo's hair grows unevenly and a few months after a cut it looks like she has a mullett. Sue Sue's hair grows slow, but is always in her eyes. Cakes and Tortilla have long hair and it is always in the way or in their mouths. So..... in just a few days we're headed to Fantastic Sam's for some changes. Roo and Sue Sue are just going to have their hair evened out. Cakes and Tortilla? They're losing a few inches. Their hair is a tangled mess every day and, while I still want to be able to put ponytails and barrettes in their hair, I want it to be manageable. I don't think they'll mind. So far they've all been really good when it comes to haircuts, even enjoying the process. But I know eventually the day will come when we arrive home from the salon and they throw themselves on the bathroom floor, wailing about the cut that went wrong.

6 comments:

maryanne @ mama smiles said...

Emma's hair grows in the back, but not on the sides. I keep waiting for the sides to start growing, but so far no luck, so I just cut the back to match the sides.

Your pixie story reminds me of a haircut I got when I was 11. My mom asked if she could cut six inches off. I thought she meant six centimeters and said sure. She wound up cutting off more like 10 inches, and I looked like Shirley Temple going into sixth grade - not cool.

I hope your daughters like their haircuts!

Stephanie Barr said...

I'm the world's laziest person when it comes to hair. The only times I had it cut short, it was my own doing and I regretted it. To this day, despite cutting it only when absolutely needing to and only the barest minimum, it only falls a few inches below my shoulders.

I like it long, though, because I can put it up or braid it or pull it back with no fuss, no muss. Or leave it down with no care but a quick brush. It has a natural wave and ridiculous amounts of volume, doesn't tangle hardly at at all and, though I'm 42, is still mostly short on gray which would stand out since it's very dark.

My teenage daughter spends hours fretting over hair coloring and straightening her hair - she doesn't like the natural curl she inherited from me. Go figure.

My son (also naturally curly) looks fantastic a natural, and, if we use a stylist he's accepted, the only problem with haircuts is that he's so ticklish. If he doesn't like them, though, it's a wall-eyed fit.

I haven't taken the baby to get a hair cut. But her hair is developing a curl as well. She loves to get her hair brushed, though, so I suspect she'll be good about it.

As for this mom, she likes long hair.

Quadmama said...

Despite the trauma of my pixie cut I actually prefer shorter hair now. Not pixie short, but easy to dry, easy to style short. Unfortunately I've found that shorter hair is more costly to maintain than longer hair. Oh well.

Anonymous said...

I've went through some serious short and long hair phases. I never had my hair treated or permed though. I insisted on having long hair as a kid and I can remember my mom getting seriously upset trying to get my hair done before school sometimes.

Quadmama said...

So far my girls are pretty good about letting me do their hair before school. I think they know what a tangled mess it will be if I don't do anything.

Stephanie Barr said...

Pictures are up, by the way.

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