Haircut

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30th - 2008

Well, the day finally arrived.  Joe decided to cut his hair all off.  Any of you who know Joe, know that he loves his hair.  He loves how it moves in the wind - especially how it flies out on roller coaster rides.  

Joe and I have had a deal going the last couple of years.  He can keep his hair however he wants it, as long as he knows it will be cut short when he turns 12.  I figure with kids, you need to pick your battles, and hair really isn't worth fighting over.  I love him no matter what his hair looks like.  Also, if he's happy.  I'm happy.  

His 12th birthday is in February, so he knows it's coming.  He has to get the dreaded haircut.  So, he decided instead of going drastic all at once, we will gradually go shorter.  The decision was to get a hair cut in November and cut about an inch off.  Then, in December, we'll go a little shorter.  Again, shorter in January, and for the final haircut in February, we would take the rest of it off.  He was happy with this decision.

So, Wednesday after school, we went and got a hair cut.  He got about and inch and a half off of the back and a little less on the front and sides.  He then decided that he didn't like it very much, he thought it was too poofy.  He started looking for short haircuts that he might be interested in getting.   He found one that he actually kind of liked.

Well, when we got to the cabin, Joe told his grandpa that he got a haircut and of course, grandpa replied that if he came over on Sunday night, he would finish the job.  Grandpa likes really short hair.

Joe decided that he would go for it.  All weekend at the cabin that was all he could talk about.  He'd made the decision to go short and couldn't wait for Sunday night.  Finally, Sunday night arrived.  Let's just say that things didn't go exactly as planned.

Here he is loosing his locks:

The experience was a little traumatic.  He thought Grandpa went too short on the sides.  He was not happy AT ALL!
After going home and spending some time in front of the mirror, things got a little better.  At least he took his hand away from his face.  Still not happy though:
He was very nervous about going to school the next day, and what his friends would say, and could he stay home for 2 weeks until it grew out a little.  I told him some of my horror story haircuts and how I lived through them.  I also told him that I really liked his hair, and that he'd get used to it.  It was just such a drastic change.  I finally got a little smile out of him before bed.

Well, the haircut went over well at school.  All of his friends were really nice about it, and on the plus side he was the center of attention at recess.  Apparently the girls at the school liked it too.  He had a little group follow him around wanting to touch his hair.

Needless to say, the haircut has grown on him, and he loves it.  All is well.