Sunday, March 20, 2011

Joshua's First Haircut: A Drama in Three Parts

OK, so maybe not really three parts... But this really was a terribly dramatic experience for our little guy!  (And then when I converted the photos to black and white to try to get around some color cast issues, David commented that it isolated the crushing pathos and strong emotion in each one -- and then suggested that I do a side-by-side comparison with Edvard Munch's "The Scream."  :))

Yesterday, we took Joshua for his very first big boy haircut!  I've trimmed the hair over his ears before, but I wasn't confident in my ability to give him a full haircut.  Plus, I really wanted the photo ops at the cute little kids' salon, and had this pretty picture in my head of Joshua giggling away in a brightly-colored chair, and having precious photos of a Big Milestone Moment...

Yeah, it didn't quite happen that way.

Joshua has been a little bit off all week (his naptimes have been fluctuating a little, and daylight savings time didn't help), and he didn't really nap well yesterday afternoon.  But he seemed to be in a pretty good mood when we decided to head out to get his hair cut.  He brought two of his beloved blocks with him, and happily babbled at me on the drive over.

He was curious, but cautious, when we walked into the salon.  Bright colors!  Fun noises!  Other kids running around!  He explored a little while I checked him in, and seemed to be doing fairly well.

He was a little concerned when we strapped him into the chair.  And then highly consternated when the strange lady snapped a cape around his neck.  But then when she started spraying his head with water, and then scraping at his scalp with a comb? 


And then holding his head still and folding his ears down and doing WHO KNOWS WHAT with a metal SOMETHING-OR-OTHER that made SNIPPING SOUNDS?  Yikes.  Not even his blocks could comfort him.


Poor little guy.  He did calm down a bit near the end, when a 7-year-old girl came over and told him all about how she remembered her first haircut and it didn't hurt at all -- such a sweet little moment.  :)


And now our adorable little guy looks even more like a handsome little man.  I've got to get some photos of him with his new 'do looking happy, but here's at least a not-screaming-in-anguish one:


Poor baby.  It'll be a while before we're all ready to try this again... I'm thinking I need to learn how to cut his hair myself!

4 comments:

Danielle said...

Haha, poor guy! I can imagine it was traumatic for you also. I looove that he brought his blocks with him to get his hair cut. So cute.

Unknown said...

Aww! So cute, hair cuts must be the scariest step of growing up, having a strangers hand on ones head with an instrument making loads noises. Ah! I remember when I was a child and I think my mum had the same experience with me, so she decided to cut my hair, she tells me that she used those clippers without the guard and pretty much made me bald, word of advice, don't do that :) lol!

Glinda said...

High. Larious. Poor Joshua. I'm sure Piper will love to see these photos, if only you had video!!!

h3b said...

such a sad day for joshua and his baby hairs! i loves this series and i'm sure you'll have fun showing it to him in the years to come. hopefully haircuts become less traumatic!