Hairy Situation

After having Neil ask me daily to please take him to get a haircut, I finally buckled down and took the boys to cut their shaggy locks.  Hair cuts in our home can be a stressful situation.  Pretty much until we moved here, the boys have always had military hair cuts like their dad.  When we moved here, we finally broke down and let them grow their hair out the way they wanted (within reason of course).  Because we live in a large Military community it's hard to find someone who can give a regular boys hair cut that doesn't turn into a buzz cut of some type.  Because of this, my kids often walk out of barber shops and hair salons very  unhappy and frankly, so do I.  Yesterday I ventured to the town about 25 miles away to go to a franchise hair salon we had been happy with when we visited Idaho.  I seriously have anxiety when I take my boys for hair cuts because someone always ends up unhappy.

Well Michael and Neil got theirs done and were happy.  Daniel however, oh my sweet Daniel.  I have serious mommy guilt over what happened to Daniel.  Daniel had really beautiful (it was hard to find a manly word to use for his hair so beautiful it is) hair.  It had finally grown out to a point where his cowlicks were in control.  He hair was always soft and it laid down!

When he told the lady what he wanted, she acted like she didn't understand.  He just wanted it trimmed up and some of the hair thinned out a bit because is hair is so thick.  At first it looked like things were going well until at one point I glanced over and saw his face in the mirror.  I could see that this hair adventure was not going on a way that he was happy with.  I walked over and was shocked at what I saw.  The stylist had done some hair cut that was very feminine!  It was terrible!  She tried to assure us that this was a very popular hair cut for boys but I just don't see it.  I panicked and told her to take it a "little" shorter, hoping that would fix it somehow.  I asked her just to cut his hair like the other boys.  I turned to say something to one of the other boys and by the time I turned back around, she had used the clippers and went up the back side of his hair!  I knew immediately that things had gone from bad to ugly.  I saw that  Daniel was trying hard not to cry and I was right there with him.

Daniel was blessed to have three crazy cowlicks and it has taken us years to get his hair to a length where they aren't completely out of control.  We are now back to square one.  When the lady was initially done, I stood in front of him and said, "I hate it, I just really hate it."  I wasn't angry, just disappointed.  I couldn't walk out of there without her knowing how sad I was she didn't listen to him and had cut his hair off to a point where now it looked awful.  It seriously looked like he had taken scissors to himself in some places.  I knew she felt bad and wasn't trying to be mean or hateful but there was no way I was walking out of that hair salon with my baby looking like he met the lawnmower.  Thankfully the owner of the salon was really great and came and did what she could to fix his hair.  She gave us that haircut free and then gave us a gift card so his next hair cut is free and they can work on fixing it.  She could tell he was upset and so she gave him some free pomade too to help "style" his hair in the mornings.  I think she tried to comfort me when she told us that Daniel had the perfect hair for a faux hawk.  I cringed as I'm not a fan of the faux hawk on anyone past the toddler stage of life!

Overall he doesn't look horrible but I feel bad that he got a haircut he didn't want and that now we will have to go through the funky, crazy stage of hair growing that he hates.  Obviously there are bigger tragedies in life than a bad haircut (and really Daniel does not look horrible, I mean we didn't have to shave him bald).  And when you look at the picture you may say..."What's the big deal?"  Daniel's going through the age where image is important and while I try to encourage my kids to be comfortable with who they are regardless of looks and current trends, however, I also want my kids to know they have choices in what makes them feel comfortable and controlling his hair cut is one of those things of comfort for him.

Overall, my boys look handsome and less scruffy and I'm happy about that.  Daniel is fine and says he isn't mad at me, I think it's because I let mommy guilt take over and took them out for Sushi afterwards!

I want to note that Neil is actually smiling for a picture!  This was after football practice so he says his hair was "messed up".  Doesn't Daniel look thrilled?

Not bad, just not what he wanted.