It's Just Hair

I was devastated...but just for the first six hours. Although I felt ridiculous, there was nothing I could do. It's a good thing I waited a few days to write this post; otherwise, my emotions would have been all over the place. I guess it's just one of those rites of passage that you go through as a mom.

Last Friday, Jackson and I went to a salon to get our hairs cut. We've been to this same salon several times and the same girl always cuts our hair. She's cut Jackson's hair 3 or 4 times. She knows what we like...or so I thought. I got my hair cut first because Jackson had just woken from his nap before we left and wanted to eat a snack. After she finished cutting my hair, she asked me if her assistant could dry my hair while she cut Jackson's hair. Of course that was fine with me. After all, she's cut his hair before and she knows what I like.

(I'm sure you now know where this is going.) We went over what I wanted: his hair is very long and needs trimming, keep it just above the brow, we like it long. She even started the conversation over what we wanted to do with his hair by saying, "I know you guys like it long." So what happened?! Her assistant dried my hair while she cut Jackson's hair. I was talking away to the woman tending to my hair, bouncing Alli on my lap, and not really paying attention to Jackson. (And it wasn't like I could turn my head and look anyway.) When she was done with Jackson's hair, my gal turned off the hairdryer, I turned and looked, and it wasn't too bad. It was definitely shorter than what I would have wanted, but it was still long on the top and sides. (I didn't see the back.) The only problem was that she'd cut it so much that he had these wing-type things on the sides of his head. His hair was just popping out right at the ear and everything else was more contoured to his head. I asked if there was something we could/should do about that. She said that it would probably be best to trim it a bit. Let me repeat, "A bit." I agreed and went back to getting my hair dried.

I will never forget the feeling I felt when I looked at Jackson the very next time. My hair was dry and they were removing my apron/wrap/cape/whatever you call it. Jackson and our stylist came around the corner after they'd been gone searching for lollipops. She said, "What do you think?" I'm sure my face said it all. I was in shock, in disbelief. His hair was short and gelled and totally different. He didn't even look like my Jackson. There was no blonde hair left. "What do you think?" And what was I going to do? Say that I didn't like it right in front of my precious child? Heavens no! It wasn't that I thought he looked bad. It was just a huge shock. I wasn't expecting it. She had to have cut 4 inches off his hair...no kidding. I was so upset. I had to fight back tears and I could already hear Jason saying, "Why did you let them cut it so short?"

Now, let me be very clear. I did not think he looked bad. I was not upset because I thought he looked ugly. Not at all. I'm not that horrible (although I am horrible)! I was just completely shocked. I wasn't ready for it. He looked so old!!! And Jason would never be mad at me over something as trivial as hair, but I knew that he would have preferred it to not have been cut so short.

At the salon, I had to hold myself together. She kept asking me repeatedly if I liked it. I told her that I did like it but, "Honestly, it's much shorter than what I wanted." I didn't want to say anything negative in front of Jackson.

When we got into the car, and Jackson could no longer see my face, I cried and cried. Not out loud of course...but with my face and heart and mind. What had she done with my baby? She'd made a boy out of his hair!

I called Jason because I wanted him to have warning so that he wouldn't be surprised. We had to talk in code - referring to myself as "maternal" and Jackson as "offspring". Jason had his hair cut at the same time we had ours cut, so it worked out well. We talked about how Jackson had a haircut like Daddy's and how cool it was. We didn't make a big deal about it.

That night, after his bath, as I was drying his hair, I asked him, "Do you like your new haircut?" He said, "I like it with more hair." My heart sank. I told him, "Really? Well, it'll grow back super fast." He said, "Let's take some of your hair and put it on mine."

Now, you're probably thinking that he sensed I didn't like it. That's not true. When writing things down on a blog, it's hard to capture the whole picture without being so wordy - something I already struggle with. I've poured my emotions on here, but I didn't pour them out that night in front of my child. I did talk to my mom about it. I knew that she'd know how I felt. I once cut my hair off and had to have a "boy" cut. I also cut off Meredith's long hair two weeks before we were flower girls in our cousins wedding. They had to perm it, and in some spots they had to use a Q-tip to curl the hair!

Now that it's been almost one week since the cut, I realize how silly all of this sounds. It took me about 24 hours to get used to his hair. My mom told me that would happen. But at the moment...oh boy, it was a shockeroo!

I want to compliment my husband on one of his best qualities. He never makes me feel bad about any mistake I ever make. He never gets upset with me for being overly emotional about things that I shouldn't be overly emotional about. He's patient, loving, so tender and very forgiving...very forgiving. We all need someone like him!

I'll post before and after pictures. Perhaps you'll understand the shock I experienced.

I took this the next morning while they were playing in bed.