They have school pictures today, so I thought it was a good excuse for a little trim & reshaping of the boys' locks. I should have turned around & run for the hills when the stylist loudly exclaimed about the length of their hair & how desperately they needed a haircut as soon as we walked in the shop.
I didn't.
I put my sweet, shaggy-haired Thing 1 into her chair and told her I was looking for a trim, maybe an inch and to make it lie properly again. She started at the back. Things were looking pretty good. Then she grabbed the front of his hair and told him to hold still while she "got all of that hair out of his face."
And gave my son eyebrow-length bangs.
After she finished chopping off his golden tresses, she dusted him off and informed him that he now had "a long, boy's haircut."
Since I hadn't managed to save his brother, I decided to sacrifice Thing 2's hair as well. I helped him into the chair, took a deep breath, and told her to give him "the same." His ended up even shorter somehow.
She was quite friendly, chatting with me about the twins as she hacked at their hair. She asked if they were identical & commented that Thing 2 seemed smaller. I replied that he was about an inch shorter, plus the shoes he had picked to wear that day were flatter (Thing 1 had on regular tennis shoes, Thing 2 was wearing loafers).
Her response: Well, you don't want them in high heels when they've got long hair.
Um. Pretty sure Lightning McQueen sneakers are nowhere near ladies shoes.
I have become convinced that this woman thought it was her personal duty to make sure my little men had haircuts that conformed to her standards of acceptable for boys. Can a hairstylist be a political activist?
P.S. In case you are wondering, W has been pretty vocal about preferring his hair long, like it was before. N thought his was okay at first and then realized that he couldn't chew on it anymore, so he changed his mind.
