Growing up my Mom made my sister's and I grow our hair long. I think I was 13 when I was finally allowed to decide how I wanted to wear my hair and I immediately headed to the salon to get a perm. Big mistake, big, HUGE, but that's a story for another post.
I think the fact that I was never allowed to cut my hair has made me very flexible when it comes to Autumn's hair. She wants to grow it out as long as Rapunzel's? OK, fine with me. She wants to cut it as short as Snow White's? That's cool too.
The problem lies in knowing what she REALLY wants. She's (almost) four years old and a girl, which means she is incapable of making a decision without changing her mind 1.23548 seconds later. Usually that's not a big deal, but in this case I cannot super glue cut hair back onto her head if/when she changes her mind. Obviously, once it's cut, it's cut.
This wasn't a problem that was on my radar until a few weeks ago. Out of no where Autumn began telling me that she wanted to cut her hair. I brushed off her first mention of it and kept moving. Then she said it again, and then a third time. At that point I took notice and decided to have a conversation with her about what cutting her hair short would entail. She seemed to fully understand and insisted that it was something that she wanted to do.
So off to the salon we went.
This is what her hair looked like when we left.
Autumn sat down on her booster seat, had the cape wrapped around her neck and watched the stylist motion towards her head with the shears. Then she changed her mind. "I think I want to keep it long like Ariel's, Mama."
So long it is.
My problem now is that with Autumn's hair being so long it is becoming increasingly harder to brush and what was once an easy process has now turned into a nightly battle. Her hair tangles and knots like nothing I've ever seen and even with "tangle spray" is a nightmare to brush out. (Side note: I should have stock in this stuff and where was this when I was four?)
She dreads it, I dread it, and it usually ends up with one of us in tears and the other highly frustrated.
I have threatened to take her to have it cut in the throws of one of our nightly battles and she pleads for me to let her keep it long. At this point, I am really starting to wonder if I am going to have to follow through on my threat just to keep my sanity and her's.
It will always grow back, right?
