Taming the wild mane

It's no secret that Chloe's hair is wild, thick and easily-tangled.  Poor girl had the misfortune of inheriting my hair exactly.  The color, texture, thickness - everything about Chloe's hair is identical to mine. And since I do my hair in a grand total of TWO different ways (down or ponytail) I'm pretty clueless as to how to manage Chloe's hair.

The mane problem (that's not a misspelling, just a cheesy intended pun) is keeping her hair out of her eyes.  I've done pigtails, braids, ponytails and barrettes to no avail. Sure they work at first but give her hair a few hours and it's bird-nest-city.

Until now that is!  I think I may have finally found the solution to keeping Chloe's thick hair off her face.  The fabric headband!  Usually headbands aren't strong enough to keep Chloe's hair back.  But these fabric headbands really stay put.  And they're cute to boot!  And super easy to whip up in an afternoon (check out the linked tutorial here though I opted not to use interfacing). 

The bonus is that Chloe really likes wearing them.  She helped me pick out the fabric (went with navy blues to match her school uniform ensembles) and even did a little of the sewing and cutting.

Any tips and tricks for me on managing my little girl's hair?  If you'd like to come and french braid her hair every morning I'd feed you breakfast.  Any takers?  :) 

Mommy Hair Salon

Today as I noticed again the heavy mop of hair dampening Chloe's neck with sweat, I was moved to do something drastic. Poor Chloe has inherited my hair to a tee. Thick, slightly wavy, and a dark blond/light brown in color our shared hair color is known as "dishwater blond".

Though I've tried somewhat to keep Chloe's hair off her neck during these sweltering summer days, it's to no avail. Braids, ponytails, and pigtails (with accompanying barrettes) are almost never strong enough to keep her hair away from her face and off her neck. By the end of the day, "scraggly" and "ragamuffin" are apt adjectives for Chloe's appearance.

So, this afternoon we set up an impromptu mommy hair salon on the front porch. I know, I'm impulsive. And you already know I'm cheap. Dishing out $10 for a kid haircut is not even a consideration to me. Sometimes my impulsivity (is that a word?) leads to really stupid decisions and mistakes.

Don't worry, this haircut doesn't fall into the stupid category. :)

Thankfully, the one time I previously cut Chloe's hair was a huge success. Ergo, I went into this haircutting venture with confidence. Ironically, because of Chloe's hair texture, it's very forgiving to the amateur hair cutter. Choppy cuts and slightly jagged lines look good in her hairstyle.

Let me tell you, Chloe LOVED every moment of the home hair salon experience! She set everything up and helped me think of all the tools we needed. We even included the small talk banter typical of a regular hair salon experience.

After much cutting, trimming and fixing the finished product is a hit! I was trying for a nice short bob that would lie above Chloe's neck and keep her cool during our humid midwestern summer.

Whew! Thank the Lord it turned out well! Chloe loves it, I love it and so does Matt. (Before and after pictures posted below).

When Chloe asked if she could have a turn cutting my hair I politely declined. :) Let's hope when she plays hair salon in the future she doesn't do any real cutting. Then I might have to put away my mommy shears and chalk this one up to a "live and learn" mommying moment.

Where do you get your kids' hair cut? Or do you trim their locks at home?

The mom bob

For ages I've had the same long mangy hair style. My hair USED to be shiny, healthy, and thick. Thanks to hormone changes from two pregnancies and thyroiditis my once lovely hair is frizzy and tangled looking.

Adding to the problem is the fact that I never take the time to actually style my hair. Sundays I aim to blow-dry and curl my hair. But even then it doesn't often happen.

My usual look is to throw up my hair in a ponytail or twist it around and put in a 90's style claw clip thingy. I'm afraid my hair style screams "harried-barely-holding-it-together-enough-to-shower mom".

While I LOVE the look of neatly styled long hair, my hair did not fit that description. Desperate for a drastic change, I got six inches chopped off at a local beauty school. I liked it for all of one day and then it was back to sloppy ponytails. The beauty school student merely chopped -- she offered no style or suggestions. Even after getting that much length cut off my hair shape looked the same! Arrggh. Even my friends didn't notice that I'd gotten my hair cut. That's bad. When my perceptive detail-oriented mom pals didn't see a difference then I knew my hair cut had gone wrong.

Tonight I impulsively jumped into the car after supper and stopped at Great Clips. And voila! Dawn, the fabulous Great Clips stylist, cut off four more inches of hair and gave me a subtly angled bob. That Dawn did a fantastic job!

So, I've joined ranks of American moms everywhere and succumbed to the mom bob. I don't care if I'm a conformist, I love this hair cut! Already the cut is proving to be easy, healthy-looking, and fun. I feel younger already. :)

What mommy hair style do you prefer?
















(Chloe insisted on tagging along and taking photos of the hair cut. Not bad for an almost-4 year old. Of course Chloe took about 10 pictures of the floor and the hairspray bottles before she snapped these keepers.)