Hairpiece

Confession: One of the (many) things that baffles me as a mom is finding the best way to work with my kids' hair. Actually, it's much better now than it used to be, I think I'm finally beginning to get the tricks of working with each one's mop.
K went from being a bald baby to a toddler with ultra fine, barely there hair. Her hair grew so slowly, she was past two before she needed her first trim. Though I kept trying, it wasn't until she turned four that I could finally put barrettes or hairbands in and expect them to stay for any length of time. Here's a picture of the first time she wore a barrette that actually stayed in. I was so excited at the prospect of doing fun things with her hair.

Not long after, I told her I wanted to put her hair in a bun. "A hamburger bun or a hot dog bun?" she asked.

Pigtails and ponytails are fun, too, but never stay put long. Her hair now seems to be growing faster, but it is still thin, baby-fine and breaks so easily. Just before we moved from Idaho, I took her to my hairdresser for a real haircut, and I was thrilled with the result. I loved the way her hair framed her face and looked perfectly cute with no need for decorations for effect or to keep it out of her face.

Since we've moved here, I haven't found a hairdresser I like for her (or me, for that matter). But since her hair is so fine and breaks even if I use the soft fabric hairbands, I think it's better to keep her hair on the short side for now.

T, on the other hand, has hair that grows very fast, and he has a powerful cowlick or two that battle me for control. The hair on top of his head has always liked to stand straight up. When he first started walking it made me laugh when I sat at the table and he would walk behind it. All I could see of him was the wisps of his hair standing up. It made me think of a shark fin gliding by.

When he was 18 months, he was well in need of a real cut.

By comparison, here's a picture of K at the same age. Her hair was growing, but still barely there. I often dressed her in pink or purple when we went out so people would know she was a girl.

Now T gets a good trim every three months and is mostly cooperative about the process.

His last haircut turned out very short. It reminded me of my teaching days when as the weather turned hot, one by one the boys would show up to class with their hair shorn into their summer haircut.

You can see that even though his hair is so short, there is that little stubborn cowlick, already beginning to spike.