Bad Hair Day

When your 3-year-old daughter tells you she really wants her long hair cut off to her shoulders, DON’T DO IT.

Just get a trim!

She’s only 3 years old, she doesn’t know what she’s saying. She’ll walk out of the hairdresser, sucking her complimentary lollypop and want her hair back.

This I learnt this afternoon and I’m feeling terrible. I should never have let her cut it. Even the hairdresser suggested we come back during the week because it would be $10 cheaper.

At that point we left.

‘We’ll come back on Monday,’ I said.

But my daughter really wanted her hair cut so I threw caution to the wind, something I rarely do with money. It was our special afternoon, if she wanted a haircut at the weekend rate, then so be it.

Wrong decision.

We went back and a different hairdresser served us and asked if I was absolutely sure that she wanted her hair cut.

I looked at my 3-year-old. She nodded.

‘To your shoulders?’ I asked, showing her clearly where that would be.

‘Yes,’ she said. I think she had one eye on the lollypop jar and another on the portable DVD player they bring out for kids.

I asked her about 25 times, if she was sure. She was and so we went ahead.

‘She’s very mature,’ the hairdresser said.

At that point I started to worry. She’s 3 years old. She’s not all that mature. She doesn’t have to be. I’m the mature one, supposedly. Was I doing the wrong thing?

Then I saw big pieces of her hair on the floor and I started to hyperventilate, just a little bit. But my daughter was quite happy. Maybe all would be fine.

And all was fine. We paid. She got her lollypop. We walked out.

Then she wanted her hair back. And our special afternoon went downhill from there.

‘It’s only hair,’ I reminded us both as my daughter sobbed in the back of the car, green lollypop goo running down her chin.

‘It will grow,’ I said.

She didn’t believe me. I felt devastated. I know that feeling of panic when you do something and a second later, you realise it was the wrong thing to do. For one very dark moment, you can’t live with your decision. She was upset so I was upset. I wanted her to love her haircut but she didn’t so I’m felt the same regret. As the grown-up, I should have known better. I shouldn’t have let a 3-year-old make the decision.

But then again as the grown-up, I know that her hair did actually need a cut and now it does look much better. She will have less chance of picking up head lice at daycare and her hair will be easier to look after.

And as the grown-up, life doesn’t get much better than that.