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.