Who’s for the chop?

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was wondering if Little Man would ever grow any hair. He had a small amount when he was born, but he quickly lost that, and then he was quite bald for ages, and didn’t seem to grow any hair until he was about 7 or 8 months old. By the time of his first birthday, it was just starting to fill in, but as you can see here, he still didn’t have a lot of it.

Little Man on his first birthday

But since then, his hair has grown as fast as he has, and he’s even started to develop little curls at the back of his head. I love those curls, because they’re the only part of him that looks like me! The rest of him looks like Charlie. However, even I have to admit that it’s starting to be a bit much. I actually have to blowdry Little Man’s hair after his bath these days. So I finally agreed with Charlie that we would take him to get it cut.

What a fine head of hair!

We tried cutting it ourselves first, but I think it made it look very messy. So on recommendations from friends, we decided to take him to Kiddie Kuts and see how we got on. As we waited for our turn, Little Man watched on while a little girl got her hair cut.

I don't know what this place is, but I'm pretty sure I won't like it!

He was very excited sitting into the little racing car seat. But as you can see, that excitement didn’t last long. I didn’t get any photos of the actual hair cut in progress, because Charlie and I spent the time reassuring Little Man and keeping him calm. But the tears flowed nonetheless. And it took a while after the haircut finished for them to stop.

I really don't like this!

I think he was trying to figure out how a fun spin in a toy car ended up with him losing half his hair!

I feel better but I'm still not happy!

The hairdresser in Kiddie Kuts was great. She was very reassuring to Little Man, and she cut his hair quickly and without any fuss. When she was done, she presented us with a lock of his hair – the first one she cut – and a certificate to indicate that Little Man has officially left the ranks of the great uncut! The experience was pricey for a child’s haircut, at €14.99, but I think it was worth it to know that the hairdresser is very experienced dealing with young children. Hair cuts can be very scary for a small child, and I definitely think the distractions of the toy car seats and cartoons on the TV screen, and balloons, and everything else they had there helped a lot to make the experience a little less traumatic for Little Man. Although he cried, he didn’t squirm away like he would at a doctor’s. He wasn’t happy to be getting his hair cut, but he wasn’t terrified either.

The new look

Unfortunately, I think Little Man was holding me personally responsible for the whole experience, because he wasn’t very cooperative when it came to my attempts to get an “After” shot of his new hair cut. So apologies for the blurriness of this one. It was the best I could do! My Little Man, with his first big boy hair cut!