Lilian’s First Haircut

Her hair is almost back into her eyes, so I guess I should probably write something about Lilian’s first haircut.

Lilian was born with hair. A lot of hair. I was actually a little shocked by how much hair she had. Everybody told us that there was a good chance it would all fall out in that first month, but it just kept growing. And growing. And growing. I had a lot of fun with her hair when she was a little baby. I would coil it with my fingers. I would spike it up into little fauxhawks at bathtime. Her hair has always been thick and shiny, so when it was short it tended to stay where you put it.

Eventually, her hair got long enough that it was getting into her eyes. We tried barrettes, but she tended to pull them out and try eating them. Which is maybe not the best idea. So we started putting it into little Cindy-Lou-Who-style ponytails on the top of her head.

I don’t know why she decided that she didn’t like having anything in her hair, but all of a sudden she started pulling any and all barrettes and elastics out of it. Consequently, we were pushing it out of her eyes approximately every 3.72 seconds. “Please cut her hair,” the ladies at daycare begged us, “please.”

Gee, why would they say that?

I made everyone promise to leave her bangs alone, just for a week or so. My salon will give your kid a free haircut if they sit on your lap at the end of your own appointment. I had a cut and color scheduled, so I wanted to wait for that. I’ve had a lot of unfortunate haircuts in my life. I wanted Lilian to start things off right. I was tempted to hack some bangs off myself, but I’m glad I didn’t.

My stylist takes his job very seriously. He carefully cut and feathered some wispy bangs for Lilian. She squirmed a little, but she was pretty good about sitting still for the five minutes that it took him to do it. He proudly explained what he’d done with her hair, and I was impressed. It’s not easy to wield sharp implements around a toddler, but he managed to give her a lovely little haircut. And nobody was bleeding at the end of it!

We went out for lunch at a Korean restaurant afterwards. I don’t know that Lilian noticed her dapper new ‘do, but she sure noticed the chopsticks. I quickly noticed that I wasn’t pushing her hair out of her eyes every 3.72 seconds. “What am I going to do with all of this free time?” I mused. “Maybe I should write the Great American Novel.”

By the way, how great is my husband? I let him know that I was going to get my haircut, and then informed him that he and Lilian were coming to Somerville with me. “You can hang out at my Mom’s house for the morning,” I told him, “and then you and Lilian can meet me at the salon. By the way, we’re getting lunch with Beans afterwards.” I did let him pick the restaurant, so there’s that.

My next hair appointment isn’t until February. I hope Lilian’s hair stays out of her eyes until then.