Buzz
Lately, I have been clueless as to what to do with Evan's hair. We struggled with this with Anya, too. But girls are easier because you can just let it grow and hope you'll have something normal to work with someday. But I have no idea about boy hair styling. Both our babies were born with lots of dark hair. They both also have major cowlicks and hair that grows straight forward. Over time, these cute little newborns started looking a little crazy as they developed comb-overs, mullets, huge wraparound bald patches, and toupee-like tops. I know from experience with Anya that I have never regretted having her hair trimmed. So, I knew I was ready to do something with Evan. He had a serious crazy hair problem and after asking a couple friends and family for advice, we decided (on vacation in SC) to cut his hair. Here's a photo to show part of the problem we were trying to fix. (Note: If you don't already know this, you can click on any of the pictures to see a bigger version.)
And obviously, the easiest thing to do for boys is to get some clippers and buzz it off, so that's what we did. We took a trip to WalMart and bought ourselves a hair trimmer set. Hilary had also been wanting to take a tiny bit off of the top of Noah's hair, so since she has experience doing this on friends in the past, she went first with her baby. With our family watching, cheering, and photographing, the haircutting began. It was hard to collect Noah's tiny fine blond hairs. But I was encouraged that he really did look better with just that tiny trim. And he didn't mind it at all - instead he looked like somebody was giving him a head massage.
The hardest part about Evan's hair was not knowing what setting to use. I had no idea what it would turn out looking like. We ended up doing the top at 3/4 inch. Then we skipped over the huge wraparound band of bald spot and did a 1/8 inch cut around the bottom. We had to cut the bottom so short so it would blend up into the bald spot and the top (see pictures farther below). I did most of the cutting with Steve and Hilary cutting some of the tougher spots. Evan was very patient and didn't seem to mind.
It was quite shocking how much hair came off our little baby's head. I had anticipated doing a little trimming while I had the help of my family around, so I had brought along a little plastic bag (the little kind that extra buttons come in when you buy a new shirt) to put the hair into. Here's a picture to show you how drastically I underestimated the amount of hair we would be collecting (this is a qt. sized bag). Look how dark it is!!!
Everyone else immediately thought it looked great. I was a little more skeptical. I definitely thought it looked better than his crazy toupee, but I couldn't stop looking at him and how different he looked. It was such a drastic change, that it seriously felt like I had cut off his identity. Steve kept calling him a "beach bum" because the overall color of his hair changed from dark brown to blond because the hair growing in was so much lighter in color than what he was born with. I didn't regret doing it, but I just felt like I had damaged who he was or something crazy like that.
Here are a couple pictures of the back to show the improvement. The first photo is after we had already cut the top (toupee), but we still hadn't dealt with the mullet band under the bald spot. The second one is the finished product.
Over time I have gotten used to it and think he is adorable, although it still catches me by surprise when I look at him. And I still don't regret doing it because it just looked so ridiculous before, but then I look at the bag of hair and wonder if we made the right decision even though I know we did. Actually, my only regret is that we didn't take better photos to compare before and after. He also looks so much older now and maybe that was a lot of the shock for me.
Here are a couple more photos I took yesterday. They show off his new haircut, too, but I couldn't resist putting them in since he looks so cute! Seriously, who buzzes a four month old baby's hair!? :-)
More on our vacation later...(I hope)...
And obviously, the easiest thing to do for boys is to get some clippers and buzz it off, so that's what we did. We took a trip to WalMart and bought ourselves a hair trimmer set. Hilary had also been wanting to take a tiny bit off of the top of Noah's hair, so since she has experience doing this on friends in the past, she went first with her baby. With our family watching, cheering, and photographing, the haircutting began. It was hard to collect Noah's tiny fine blond hairs. But I was encouraged that he really did look better with just that tiny trim. And he didn't mind it at all - instead he looked like somebody was giving him a head massage.
The hardest part about Evan's hair was not knowing what setting to use. I had no idea what it would turn out looking like. We ended up doing the top at 3/4 inch. Then we skipped over the huge wraparound band of bald spot and did a 1/8 inch cut around the bottom. We had to cut the bottom so short so it would blend up into the bald spot and the top (see pictures farther below). I did most of the cutting with Steve and Hilary cutting some of the tougher spots. Evan was very patient and didn't seem to mind.
It was quite shocking how much hair came off our little baby's head. I had anticipated doing a little trimming while I had the help of my family around, so I had brought along a little plastic bag (the little kind that extra buttons come in when you buy a new shirt) to put the hair into. Here's a picture to show you how drastically I underestimated the amount of hair we would be collecting (this is a qt. sized bag). Look how dark it is!!!
Everyone else immediately thought it looked great. I was a little more skeptical. I definitely thought it looked better than his crazy toupee, but I couldn't stop looking at him and how different he looked. It was such a drastic change, that it seriously felt like I had cut off his identity. Steve kept calling him a "beach bum" because the overall color of his hair changed from dark brown to blond because the hair growing in was so much lighter in color than what he was born with. I didn't regret doing it, but I just felt like I had damaged who he was or something crazy like that.
Here are a couple pictures of the back to show the improvement. The first photo is after we had already cut the top (toupee), but we still hadn't dealt with the mullet band under the bald spot. The second one is the finished product.
Over time I have gotten used to it and think he is adorable, although it still catches me by surprise when I look at him. And I still don't regret doing it because it just looked so ridiculous before, but then I look at the bag of hair and wonder if we made the right decision even though I know we did. Actually, my only regret is that we didn't take better photos to compare before and after. He also looks so much older now and maybe that was a lot of the shock for me.
Here are a couple more photos I took yesterday. They show off his new haircut, too, but I couldn't resist putting them in since he looks so cute! Seriously, who buzzes a four month old baby's hair!? :-)
More on our vacation later...(I hope)...
posted by Lara at 9:21 PM
5 Comments:
Yeah! An update from Lara! I love your comments on the mullet/toupe! Benjamin's got some of that going on too - but maybe not quite as extraordinary as Evan! :) He looks SO cute with his haircut! You did the right thing!! It's funny how babies can make us catastrophize over the smallest things! Who would have thought a haircut would be such a big deal? Now, granted, this is coming from the girl who gave herself a buzz cut - we'll have to see how I react to Ben's first hair cut! Can't wait to hear more about your vacation - keep blogging away! :)
ok, just want to second how GREAT it looks in person. It was totally the right thing to do. How cute he is!!! I MISS HIM!!!!!!
Yip - he looks adorable. Where was I, by the way, when this was going on? Oh yeah - on the big bed with Anya and Dylan I imagine. The number #1 play space in South Carolina for 2 year olds. I definitely think you made the right decision, but I can imagine the shock from a dark and long haired son to a blond, short haired one. At least he has hair - which his mother did not until age 2+!
I think he looks adorable, Lara! I can't wait to see him (and Anya and everybody else) in person in October...
You for sure made the right decision. He looks great. Looking back at pictures, you will be very happy you helped him look more like the adorable baby he is (instead of seeing a crazy head of hair).
:-)
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