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Over the weekend, the discount salon we frequent offered $10 cuts for kids (rather than the regular $12 price). I've been debating whether to cut Sue Sue and Cake's hair, so I jumped on the deal. They're back to chin length and very happy with their new 'dos.
The problem? All of my girls now look the same from behind, identical or not. Even Roo, who refused a cut and has hair a few inches longer than the others is hard to distinguish from the back. In the last 24 hours I have mixed up every single one of their names. I can no longer tell Tortilla and Cakes apart with a glance (until the cut, Cakes had longer hair than Tortilla. Now their hair is the same length and color and even has a wild curl in the same spot). At one point last night, I looked at one of my girls and simply said "Hey you, come here." You thinking I'm joking? I really did say that!
They think I'm teasing them when I get their names wrong. I'm going to have to start picking one of them to wear hair clips or something! I can only imagine what will happen when they go to school tomorrow (they're off today for President's Day). Something tells me their teacher is going to have the same problems I'm having right now!
I've never had really long hair. Growing up, my mom made me get a "pixie cut" every summer, although to me it was called a "boy haircut." I vowed never to do that to my daughters. Then I had girls with tangled messes for hair.
I'm willing to do simple hair styles... ponytails, braids, barrettes. I'm not able to do more elaborate 'dos (think French braids). My daughters don't seem to mind. I don't make them get a pixie cut, but they do end up with a bob a few times a year. Usually I'll let their hair grow out in the summer and then cut it right before school starts. This might seem backwards to some... they should have short hair for summer, right? But I would rather get all the chlorinated, sun damaged hair cut off.
At the beginning of this school year, only Roo and Cakes had hair long enough to justify a $10 haircut. I won't pay $10 for a trim. I do all bang trims myself. Soon, Tortilla needed a cut, but since she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween, I let her keep her unruly locks until November. Days after Halloween she happily went to a chin-length bob.
This has never been a problem, until now. The other day I mentioned to Sue Sue that it's about time for her to get a haircut. Her response: I want long hair. Right now her hair is about shoulder length. If it gets cut, it's going chin length. She wants to keep it the way it is. I don't mind, except her hair is always in her face. So I made a deal with her, she has to wear some type of 'do (headband, ponytail, whatever we decide each morning) and keep it in. If she starts pulling out the accessories mid-morning, as she is known to do, then she has to have her haircut. So far our deal is working. It means a few extra minutes are added to the morning routine, but as long as she's keeping up her end of the bargain, I'll stick with it.
It snowed yesterday. Ugh. On Saturday it was nearly 80 degrees... now it's not even 50. I guess I was spoiled by the lingering warm weather.
The cooler weather means it's time to break out many things: the shovel, extra blankets and the hair dryer. I actually use the hair dryer on my own hair every day (shhhh, don't tell my stylist. She thinks I should only wash my hair every other day. She, however, does not have crazy, uncontrollable waves that will not be tamed by a measly water bottle). Anyway, once it becomes cold outside, I have to start using the hair dryer on my girls. This, of course, makes our nightly routine a little longer. They take a shower every other night (baths on the "off" nights if they've been at school or playing outside, etc). I can't send them to bed with wet hair. Their hair dries pretty fast in the summer, but in the winter, I don't think it would ever air-dry. So, out comes the hair dryer and they are suddenly treated to salon-type pampering. Their hair is combed, tangle-free and nice and shiny.
I figure I could open my own at-home salon with all the work I do on the girls, especially once you factor in the "mani/pedis" I give them in the summer!
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.
