Milestone: First Haircuts!

The babies have been getting seriously shaggy-haired. It was time for professional help, so I made an appointment at Little Clippers for the day before their nine month ‘birthday.’ It seems to be THE place for baby/kid haircuts in the Portland area. Of course, it’s in one of the Portland suburbs, which meant the total time (travel+haircut+travel) could cut into danger territory (ie, overlap with feeding and/or nap or something). But I figured I should just do it already.

I know that this is traditionally an emotional event for mamas, and that a lot of them either cry when their baby’s hair is cut for the first time, or just don’t get it cut at all. However…I haven’t really felt that. I did feel a pang knowing that this hair being cut was their ‘original’ hair they’d had in the womb. But I’d already trimmed their mullet wings a few months ago and had saved snippets of hair; I also knew that this salon did a special thing for First Haircuts.

Anyway, I was a couple minutes late for our appointment, made even later because I had to put both babies into the double stroller in order to get from the parking lot to the salon. Can’t just pick up two babies and all the stuff and waltz in!

I was asked what cartoons or shows they like to watch. I was like, “um…I don’t know?” thinking, they’re nine months old, why would they be watching anything at all? What makes this place kid-friendly is A) kid videos playing at each station to entertain and/or hypnotize the kids to keep still, and B) cute ‘cars’ instead of regular barber seats.

The second I got both babies down into their cars, they both starting bawling. Like loud, seriously upset crying. I think they were just confused and overwhelmed and overstimulated. New people, lots of noises (they hate loud sounds like hairdryers and blenders right now), lots of bright colors and moving screens and mirrors. I think it was just all too much for them.

So–two screaming babies and of course there’s only one of me. I picked up E because he seemed more freaked out of the two. I did my best to soothe M while not being able to pick him up or do much at all. I grabbed his pacifier from the diaper bag and tried to hold it in his mouth. This only sort of worked.

I said wryly to the ladies, “…And this is why I don’t take them out by myself.” I seriously pondered just leaving, if it was going to be such a disaster. Argh. But we were there, I figured we should just power through it and it would be over fairly quickly.

M quieted a little, but was still clearly unnerved. Another lady came over to hold the pacifier for M and try to calm him down.

His stylist finally got to work, but E was still really upset. I put him in his seat anyway as he continued to bawl. Huge tears rolling down his little cheeks. He continued to sob as his stylist got going. And of course, me being the terrible mama that I am, I had to grab my camera to document everything. I mean, come on, this was my babies’ first haircuts!

The chaos definitely helped me not feel emotional or anything. If anything, I was stressed, not sad.

By the end, M was totally quiet and E was only sniffling. The stylists worked really quickly and in broad strokes to get some shape/control to the babies’ hair.

And now for the rest of the photos. They make me laugh in such an ‘awww’ way.

Here’s a couple more of M:

Just look at that face! Poor baby!!

And here’s E.

So much hair!

 

Awww, poor baby!!

In the end, we got in and out fairly quickly, considering the meltdowns. I do think it was worth it so that their hair wasn’t falling down into their eyes. They do look a lot older with “real” haircuts, though. By the time they need another haircut, I think they’ll be ready for the experience and it will go smoother. I hope so anyway. 🙂