The Van Vactor family

Yup that’s right. My three year old cut her hair off, all of it, about four inches all the way around. It was one of my biggest fears as a mom. My child taking scissors to her hair. When it happened I thought it was the worst it could be, but thanks to instant reassurance from friends on Facebook, I quickly learned it might not have been that bad.

Top is her ‘before’ and bottom is her cut she did to herself.

So here’s the story. My daughter had just had a hair cut that day. My Mother in Law was in town so we had put the kids to bed and headed to the grocery. About 9pm my little one who was supposed to be in bed came down the stairs part way and yelled for me. I walked up to get her and boom there it was.

Hair gone, in it’s place a rat tail and some long random strands. Four inches gone. Pigtails gone. Choppy uneven all over the place hair in it’s place. I yelled in a panic for my husband shouting “Tenley cut off her hair! Come here now!”

My husband and his mom ran upstairs to find my shocked three-year-old standing there. I think we scared her because she got upset and ashamed. My sweet Mother-in Law (whom God put in our house that night so we didn’t kill anyone) picked her up and calmed her down. She asked Tenley if she had seen what she did and showed her what her hair looked like in the mirror. Tenley (who had cut it in the office and didn’t realize what it looked like) immediately got sad and covered her face. She asked when her pigtails would come back and how long until her hair would come back. Of course my blood was boiling. I loved her pigtails. Thank goodness we had JUST had family pictures taken.

My daughter hadn’t really realized what she had done to her hair. It was the night before the last day of school so I had to call around at 9:30 p.m. to try to find a hairstylist friend to help me fix it. Luckily my old babysitter and small group friend picked up the phone and helped me out. She ‘coached’ me on how to fix it and what to do for the night to make it okay to get to school. I was lucky it was really the ‘best case scenario’ because somehow she had gotten it pretty even. I turned to Facebook in my shock and posted before/after pictures. I was baffled by the amount of people that had stories of either their kids or themselves that were in a similar situation. I saw funny pictures and felt so much better as a mom knowing I wasn’t the only one that had happened to.

 

The ‘after’ picture fixed by a hair dresser

We got pretty lucky because her pixie cut actually turned out pretty cute. We had to deal with some self esteem issues as she felt like a boy so we had to get ears pierced to help pump up her esteem. We are all pretty used to the cut now although she still asks for her pigtails. We’ve gotten more compliments about her hair than ever before. She rocks her short hair pretty well but I don’t think she will ever cut her hair again. It’s been pretty traumatic. I did learn a valuable lesson, though. As shocking and as mad as it was (and I have to remember we were lucky with her cut) it turned out to not be that bad. We could have had a worse situation with our child. She’s not hurt, sick, or dealing with pain from illness. We have healthy, happy children and God has blessed us. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the situation no matter how mad you are because, well, frankly, there’s nothing you can do. I love my daughter despite what she did and hair is hair. It will grow back, even if it takes a year.

First time here? Like Mumbling Mommy on Facebook to continue the conversation!

Check out our Pinterest Page here for more cute hair tips and dos and fun for kids!

While you’re here, you may enjoy these other posts:

DIY Photo Canvas

Chicken Casserole Recipe

Knowing your way around Pinterest 

Category: Uncategorized

Tags: Alyssa