A Mommy Story

For the past two weeks, I’ve noticed Cordy putting her hair in her mouth. This practice drives me crazy and I’ve asked her to stop as soon as I see her do it. A few times I’ve threatened to have her hair cut super short so it won’t reach her mouth. Of course, this is an empty threat – she’s grown to love shorter hair, and I’ve become fond of fewer screaming fits over combing her hair.

Cordy has hair that many people would pay a high price for. It’s super-fine in texture, and her mane is super-thick. There’s so much hair that it takes effort to part it, then keep parting it, and then push even more hair out of the way to finally find her scalp. You could say she’s got the Rapunzel effect with hair follicles instead of length, and it easily tangles.

It’s not fair that a child with such amazing hair would also have such amazing sensory issues related to her head. I had to distract her and secretly trim her hair until she was six. Years of hair combing still haven’t made her accustomed to it and she still fights against the comb.

I miss all that hair from when she was little – but I don’t miss combing it.

I’d love her to have gorgeous, long locks of hair that we could style and put in ponytails or curl, but I know it’s unlikely to happen. For both our sakes, I will take her to the stylist right before summer to take more length off to get us through the warm, humid summer. She hates having it cut, but she hates having longer hair combed even more.

Mira, on the other hand, does not have her sister’s hair issues. Her hair is also fine, but there’s not nearly as much of it. And her head isn’t as sensitive. She loves to play dress up, loves hair clips, and loves to look pretty. She can be my little hair model then, right?

Nope. Turns out, this kid LOVES having short hair. She thinks it’s cute.

OK, she’s right. It is super cute.

When I asked her today if she’d let her hair grow out so we can put it in ponytails and braid and curl it, she agreed at first, then later came to me and said, “Mommy? I don’t think I want longer hair. My hair is too cute when it’s short! But I’ll help style your hair, OK?”

Ummm…I don’t know if I feel so comfortable with that.

I’ve had long hair for most of my adult life. (With one very bad period of short hair.) Despite having long hair, I’m not very skilled at doing anything with it. That’s part of the reason I love longer hair – it doesn’t need a lot of styling, and the basic ponytail requires little effort.

If I can’t play with my daughters’ hair, maybe it’s time for me to learn how to do more with my own hair. This video is where I’m starting: learning to put hot rollers in my hair. Maybe I should let Mira watch it, too? She’d be great at handing me the pins for the rollers.

Other bloggers are choosing their favorite hairstyle tutorial videos and asking for your opinions on which you love most. Each week, BlogHer is giving away prizes to 3 lucky winners: one grand prize viewer will receive a $250 Visa gift card and two more folks will each receive a $100 Visa gift card! Visit the Prizes and Promotions page on BlogHer.com for more info!

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