The New Haircut
She cut her hair. My daughter never had much in the way of hair- in fact it took nearly two years for her to grow any at all- but grow it finally did- reaching the top of her shoulders when my littlest decided it was time to try a new do.
I had never taken my daughter to a hairdressers before, simply chopping off her bangs myself, usually uneven, as it is hard to get her to stand still. I trim my own hair and my husband shaves off both his own and our son’s military style when needed, so hair dresser was not in our vocabulary, but this past week, Sydney went to the hair salon for the first time. Having a stranger trim up her lopsided hair (it was amazing how much hair she chopped off in three minutes (I was nuking pasta for dinner at the time and thought she was washing her hands- hah!)), but the hairdresser was more punishment than any scolding or timeouts could have ever done, and now my little girl sports a pixie look reminiscent of Mia Farrow in her short hair days- or Twiggy, the model. It took a while to get used to (for me) and even now I get a jolt when I look at her.
I myself, the youngest of three girls (dear brother comes later) had short hair most of my youth- I think me and my sisters had that bowl cut (from a salon!) Sandy had the salad bowl, Sue had the cereal bowl and I had a soup bowl. Later on the hairdressers tried the- oh it’s cute, like Dorothy Hamil. To me, it was SHORT. But for a busy mom, I can understand- no more tangles to deal with, less drying time, etc- EASY.
When I finally found my voice and started growing my locks, I grew them long. Then my sister dared me to chop them off . It was my sophomore year of highschool. I could not resist a dare, and had it hacked off- that Dorothy Hamil look- cried for a week (or more) and vowed never to cut it again. Managed well until a friend lopped it off years later, telling me she only wanted to cut the damaged bits out and well- it was all damaged. I was so mad. Now I steer clear from well meaning friends with scissors and trim the ends myself- a trip to the hairdressers once every few years if I can get a babysitter. So now I pass on the hair legacy to my daughter- every child cuts their hair (my son did it, my step daughter too) only no one cut it as short as my Syd- so those scissors are going on the high shelf and the next time a hair tickles her in the face- it’s off to the hairdressers for her!