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Hair Today...Gone Tomorrow
So, as time has moved on and Flipper has rapidly moved from 4 to 5 to 6
(and a half!) and therefore has learned about a million new things. I
have changed and grown and learned about two million new things right
along with her. But there is something out there that continually
eludes me: hair. Her hair, to be specific. At this point, after a few
YEARS of "practice" (lots of screaming from her), I can brush her hair
out with only a few squeals of pain, and even make two braids. But that
is about it: braids and ponytails. How did I miss learning all the fun
and cool hair styling tricks when I was young? Surely not everyone had
a horse to practice on! How are my friends-and even my mom-so good at
something that I am so bad at? And how can I get better? Her hair is
entering a longish phase right now, and I see little girls with
gorgeous French braids, adorable buns on either sides of their lead,
little crowns of braids...all utterly adorable. And I want this for my
own. But their moms seem to have some inborn or
left-over-from-childhood ability in this department that I am utterly
lacking. Perhaps it was the Barbie-Ban in effect in our house when I
was young, and the reality that I was way more excited about performing
open heart surgery on a menagerie of stuffed animals than learning the
intricacies of barrette placement and perfect part-brushing on myself
or anyone else.
Flipper, as you might imagine, is miles ahead of
me on this score; those cursed American Girl dolls tend to arrive with
tons of hair for the brushing-although she broke the special doll
hairbrush after a week of vigorous brushing. And, perhaps more
importantly in terms of success: she isn't bored out of her mind with it. Here
is my Achilles Heel: the desire to be instantly good, braids evenly
woven, parts stick-straight with nary a hair out of place without
practicing on some overpriced doll. Or my screaming child. So if you
want to show me how to be instantly good at French braids, or a cornet,
or anything else...come on over.
Leigh Sparacino
Leigh is a TriangleMom2Mom featured blogger, appearing every Monday.
Leigh grew up in Durham, attended college in North Carolina, left the area for an island off the coast of Georgia, the high mountains of Colorado, and her favorite mountains in western North Carolina, before returning to the Triangle eight years ago. She lives near Carrboro with her 4.5-year-old daughter Flipper and two dogs. She is single in marital status only, surrounded by friends, family, and her daughter's very involved and loving father. She works part-time and tries to be as involved as possible in her daughter's school, The Emerson Waldorf School, where Flipper is a kindergartner. She likes wood, glass and other natural materials for toys, loves the principles of Waldorf education and hates plastic. She might be the only person in the world with no TV and who hasn't been to a movie in 15 years, but races to the mailbox every Saturday for the most recent issue of People magazine. In other words, a contradiction. Or just human.
Leigh appears Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Leigh on her blog Flipper and Me.
Comments
My daughter's hair is curly and that is an understatement. I can't french braid it for anything. The one trick I have found though is to spritz it with water before I comb it. Having it slightly damp makes combing and styling so much easier and it looks better, as if I actually have some talent in the styling department!
I feel the same with Leigh. I am horrible at fixing Laurel's hair and I always feel so guilty cuz it seems that everyone else's little girl has the cutest hairdo's.
Hi Ladies!
You are being too hard on yourself. We all have things that we are naturally good at or come easy to us. Just a few pointers and tips and you'll be a natural in no time!
I am also a Hair dresser by trade! I love to do little girl's hair. The funny thing is we have 2 boys! haha. I do occasionally style their hair too.