Katie's First Haircut

Katie definitely needed a haircut.

Aaron and I thought we'd take her to Kid's Hair. I brought some of the boys there once, when my clippers were broken, and it was a fun place. They have little televisions at each of the stations, and put movies in for the kids to watch. I thought it would be a great experience for Katie.

When we arrived, we found they had a 70 minute wait, so we made an appointment to come back after some shopping for Aidan's birthday. When we returned, we were told it would be just a few minutes. Then we noticed something. There were two hairdressers working. One of them, a kind-looking young woman, had just started a haircut. The other was just finishing up. She wasn't so kind-looking. In fact, she had black-dyed hair, shaved to a buzz on the sides, and a 4" Mohawk down the middle. Her lip was pierced, and she was sporting enormous hoop earrings to match.

Suddenly, I realized that this scary lady was going to be the one to cut Katie's hair.

Aaron and I quietly started discussing what we should do. Before we could make up our minds, she came to the counter and asked if Katie was ready. Aaron and I looked at each other, and Aaron said, "We actually need to get going now." Then, we bolted. I didn't look back. Aaron said the woman was glaring at us.

I'm sure they thought we were being intolerant. I briefly wondered if I was being intolerant. But all I could think was that I wanted my daughter to have a great first hair cut experience. This woman looked scary to me. Can you imagine how Katie might have reacted? Besides, I wouldn't go to someone who looked like that to do my hair. Why would I put my daughter's hair into her hands?

I don't understand why a children's salon would hire someone who looks scary to cut hair. I know that there are high-end salons downtown that have scary-looking hairdressers, but there is a different clientèle there. This isn't the venue for that.

Well, we left the salon, and headed toward Eden Prairie. I was pretty unnerved. We found a Great Clips. There were only normal, kind, neat-looking hairdressers there. Katie got in without a wait, and I calmed down pretty quickly.

Katie was a little timid about getting into this interesting chair.

But the lady looked nice, and she made Katie feel very comfortable.

When it was over, she offered to braid Katie's bangs to keep them out of her face.

The hairdresser put some hair in an envelope for me as a keepsake. Even though she took off two inches in the back, her hair still has beautiful curls. It looks very clean now, and the ends aren't scraggly anymore.

I had a very fun time with my little girl's first hair cut, despite the horrible start to the experience. Although I wasn't able to get any smiles on camera, Katie really did enjoy it. She kept the braid in all day, and wasn't too happy when I took it out for bed. I'll have to try doing it myself tomorrow.