■ 15 August 2008 | 8:32 AM
Kids’ Hair
My mother liked pigtails, so I was the unfortunate girl with super-long hair which begged to be used as a torture device. Yes, the little boy in the desk behind me tied my braids to the back of my chair and when I jumped up to recite, I nearly broke my head off backwards. I tattled, but that wasn’t necessary as the teacher could plainly see who did what to whom.
After that, Mother looped my braids and put a big bow at the top of each. This provided the mean little weasel behind me with two convenient handles which he used to yank my head this way and that. I’ve forgotten a lot but I remember his name, Bob Young. He probably grew up to become some kind of multiple-assault criminal.
My hair was so long that only Mother could brush it out. Every morning I perched on the kitchen stool, gritted my teeth, cried, fussed, and got brushed and braided. It was awful, all the pulling.
Once, when my parents were away for a couple of weeks, an aunt took care of me. On the first morning of no-Mother, Aunt Pearl began to brush and I began to cry and whine. Immediately the brushing stopped. Auntie handed me the brush and walked away. Until Mother got back, I looked like the wild kid of Borneo.
When Lydia was little, I decreed, “No hair cuts.” So her hair grew long, blonde, curly, and gorgeous. She wanted short hair but I didn’t allow it. I loved the beautiful blonde mane on that precious little tiny person. Finally, as a teenager, after years of begging, she got a hair cut…which made her happy although I was crushed.
Now Benny and Sadie. Both have bright orange hair. Benny’s is straight and thick. Most mornings he gets it spiked up. If you’re ever out and about and see a little boy with wildly spiked orange hair and blue eyes, that might be him. It’s almost definitely him if he’s madly, furiously tap dancing. Since Benny learned to tap, he only stops when someone yells, “STAND STILL FOR ONCE!”
Sadie got a hair cut this summer…over my vehement objections. It’s not a short cut, just a
trim but I liked the way it was. Sadie’s hair is one of the beautiful things in my environment, golden red to deep red, many shades of a wonderful color.
Additionally, that red hair is curly. You can get a handful of it, and with the brush, wrap it around a finger…and it stays that way in finger curls. Very wonderful.
Not long ago Lydia observed that now she sees why I didn’t let her get a hair cut as a child. However the kid feels, Mom loves to see beautiful long baby hair glittering in the sunshine.
Fortunately for Sadie, she, also, likes her long hair. Once in a while she agrees to have two pony tails, one on each side. Mostly, though, that hair just hangs free, contributing to the quality of our scenery wherever we go.
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Hair Wars
I cried every summer before I went to camp. My mother would get my hair cut so short I looked like a boy. They called it a "pixie" cut. I wish I had some of the pixie's magic for doing evil. I would make all my mother's hair fall out right now. She still hates my hair long, would not allow my hair to grow as a child, and seems to not like it because it's curly. Proves there's no accounting for taste.