QT Gets a Haircut!

It has finally happened. In order to end this year on some sort of up note, I present to you the newly shorn QT.

In full disclosure we went to get the haircut on Christmas Eve. I took him to Snip-Its and we got the whole certificate/hair in a dime-bag sized bag and paid more than a few dollars more than SuperCuts.

The Ladies weren't too happy that their first haircut didn't end with a certificate and a toy, although they both left there with a tattoo, a handful of dum-dum lollipops, and the promise that haircut number two will be there too.

QT was pretty good. He didn't like the spray bottle to the head, but it was hard to concentrate on what was going on with him because the Ladies were running around that place and climbing into empty chairs with such frequency that I found myself threatening them with no Christmas on Christmas Eve.

Here are a few pics.

The before. The tail is a bit extreme.



The first cut.




In the chair.




The after.



He Said/She Said: QT Needs a Haircut

Here is another He Said/She Said for your reading pleasure. Access our first "conversation" here.

As usual, I go first.

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The mullet

She Said:

QT needs a haircut. He is almost 16 months old and he has what can only be described as a mullet. Granted, the mullet is comprised of fine, wispy baby curls, but the fact remains that the look is essentially a cross between Bowser from Sha-Na-Na and a hockey haircut.

Look, I love Grease and if QT wants to suit up and take the ice so be it (I just won’t be driving him to those super early morning practices) but it is time for a haircut.

The problem is my husband doesn’t want him to get one.

I know that I waited 4.5 years to cut the Lady’s hair, but she is a girl and her hair is long and straight. QT is now beginning to resemble those early 90’s kids who used to hang out on the patio behind our high school with their tight black jeans and white high-tops, while smoking nic-sticks and wearing leather jackets.

My husband wants to wait for all his hair to grown in on top before we cut it. This is, of course, ridiculous.

By the time the rest of his hair grows in the tail on the back of his head will be down to his mid back. I know that QT is the baby and maybe this first haircut will make him look too much like a “big boy,” but the truth of the matter is that even though he is the baby of our family we have to stop always treating him like he is still a newborn.

Trust me; I have shed tears over the fact that he will be my last child. My atrophied, uterus will never again grow another human being. I cherish the small moments I still have with my precious baby boy, but that kid needs to grow up a little.

By fifteen months both the Ladies were walking, talking, and drinking out of a cup.

QT is pointing at things and growling like he is E.T. before he finds the Speak&Spell, still drinking out of a bottle, still only walks when I am behind him--hunched over like Quasimodo--or if he receives a round of applause for his efforts, and just making as much noise as possible. The kid opens the doors to the laundry and just bangs on the washing machine like he is part of a Native American drum circle and he is on the lookout for his spirit guide.

I just think it wouldn’t hurt to have his hair reflect the fact that he is growing up. I mean, I can tie his hair back with a ribbon, send him off with a fife and have him join some local Minuteman reenactment group (what? we live in New England), or we can suck it up, send him off to Snip Snaps and get the kid a proper haircut.

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He Said

So what if QT has what can, in some circles, be described as a "rat's tail," a hockey haircut or a mullet. These would be appropriate descriptions of his hairstyle if he was living in the 80's, Canada or if he wasn't a one year-old.  He's one and he's adorable.

I've never had one person tell me he needs a haircut; besides my wife of course. It's not like he looks like the kid from the Little Lady's 3rd birthday party, who could have been trying out for the role of Tarzan's son. He's just now getting a full head of hair up top, and genetically speaking, he might want to hold onto all he's got now. Because it doesn't look like he'll have much later in life. And, I guarantee you he's not going to want anything to do with that barber's chair.

Maybe it's because he's our baby, and I'm not quite ready to admit that he is in fact not a baby anymore. Lord knows I want him to start doing other "big boy" things, like walk and talk instead of grunting at everything he wants. But, I also don't want to start thinking about the fact that when he does walk or talk, it will be our last set of "first steps" or our last "first word."  I'm holding onto our "baby" as long as I can, and if that means he goes a little longer than usual before his first trip to the barber, so be it.

The minute somebody mistakenly thinks he's a girl, I'll give him a haircut myself, but until then, he's business in the front, party in the back.

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Me Again

"Business in the front, party in the back?" Really? Really? You're better than that.

I don't want a Ryder Robinson on my hands here or even worse what Celine Dion's kid looked like for years. When I give QT a tub his hair is at mid-back. Even the Ladies have commented on its length.

There is a possibility that when you come home tonight his hair will be in a ponytail. We have already seen him in barrettes courtesy of his sisters, and although I am pretty sure it might be awhile before he is mistaken for a girl, it doesn't change the fact that he still needs a haircut.

Oh, and by the way, you are bringing him. There is no way I am going to try and control that kid while he gets his haircut.

Mom Moment of the Day: The Ladies Get Their Hair Did

In her 4.5 years of life, the Lady has never had a haircut. Granted, one time she took a scissor to her head and cut a bit off the top, but that was only once.

Every time I brought it up she would say that she was scared of going. Quite honestly, I didn't want to have to calm a crying child in a car chair or worse yet, leave a salon with half cut hair. If the Lady doesn't want to do something, she really doesn't want to do something.

So I avoided it. Once she finally started to allow me to put her hair up, it really wasn't that big of deal. Did her hair fall so low down her back it touched the top of her butt? Yes. But she didn't care. Besides those little blond wisps at the very end had been on her head since the day she was born and part of me didn't really want to sever that last connection, especially now that I see her growing into such a big girl.

In the chair waiting for the first cut.

The hair in the toilet incident kind of changed my perspective on getting haircuts. That, and the fact that all my children sweat profusely from the head. It is kind of gross. So when I mentioned getting a haircut to the Lady and she said yes without any issue or backlash. I decided we should go for it.

Now, I had thought about bringing her to an actual salon where she could feel like a real Lady and maybe get her nails done too. But I thought that might be a little extreme and probably kind of expensive. I looked into those hair studios for kids, but they too were a bit expensive too and let's be honest it wasn't like I was bringing an 18-month-old in for its first haircut, I didn't need her to sit in a festive chair or get a certificate that would never even see the inside of her baby book and would probably be covered with stickers in a matter of days and I would have to throw out in the cover of darkness to cut down on the clutter in the house.

First cut

So, I took her and the Little Lady to Supercuts. It was anything but "super."

Granted the haircut looked great and even the Little Lady ended up getting a trim so tiny it was barely worth it (but hey---she was happy and still wearing her full on ballet recital costume), but I did kind of second guess my decision not to take them to some "Kids Kuts" or "Silly Snips" or some other equally ridiculous named hair salon that I just made up.

The Little Lady wasn't quite sure what to make of it

Maybe it was the hairdressers lack of enthusiasm that this was the Lady's first haircut. She is 4.5 years old! I mean would it have killed her to try and make it special? OK, OK, I know I was only paying 15 bucks for the haircut but did she have to complain about me taking flash photography? These are memories people! Memories! Gosh, and a lollipop at the end would have been nice. Do they still do lollipops in salons? I have gotten my haircut a grand total of two times since I got pregnant with QT. Once was at a local hairdresser training school for $11 and the other time was at a 5-star hotel spa. Neither place had lollies.

The finished project

Much healthier and much shorter

I guess at the end of the day the Lady was happy. Her hair looks much healthier and even the Little Lady's had some extra bounce. I probably won't wait another 4.5 years to get it cut again but I pretty sure we won't be going back to "Supercuts." "Silly Snips" here we come. . .