The Haircut

Ever since Z was little he has hated having his hair cut.  I thought, at first, that is was because of the sensory overload with clippers and people touching his head.  I'm wondering now if it's because he just doesn't like change and having his hair cut off is a pretty big change.  Take tonight for example.

I walked in the door from work and was met with Z asking for Popeye's Chicken.  Now let's go off on a rabbit trail for a minute.  Z LOVES Popeye's Chicken with his whole heart.  I've tried very hard to make chicken that was close to tasting like Popeye's but no luck.  We've even had to drive to Popeye's early in the morning to show Z that the restaurant was closed to get him to stop asking for it, over, and over, and over...well, you get the idea.  So, when I heard Z asking for Popeye's Chicken and knowing that I had no formal plan other than Brandon working on tenderizing some ribs in the slow cooker I thought this was a good opportunity to get something.

Z's hair was getting too long!  It was starting to curl on the ends and with the weather turning hotter I thought it was high time for a summer buzz cut.  Thus, my inspired idea.  Z gets Popeye's Chicken after he gets a haircut. Being the cheap people we are and learning from experience that people do not take kindly to screams in the salon they are getting their hair cut in, we have hair clippers of our own.  The big trick is getting Z to sit for a haircut.

Let me give you some background.  We found this fantastic place that cuts hair in Schaumburg.  Love it!!  They have cute cars for the kids to sit in and a play area for them to play in.  They even have people who will watch your kids in the play area so YOU can get a haircut.  Inspired!  So we took Z there.  Magically, the first trip went rather well.  The second trip, not so much.  We pulled into the parking lot and Z immediately started to scream.  I opened the door to the minivan and had to wrestle him out of the car.  It took us about 15 minutes of wrestling him towards the door (we are still outside at this point) before I finally gave up.  The shag look is in, right?  So we left it alone for a while until the poor kid could barely see past his bangs.  This time we once again pulled into the parking lot and, once again, huge meltdown.  So at that point we bought the clippers.

Now, you would think that having Z in his home with all his favorite people and things around him would make him much happier about getting his hair cut.  Nope.  Z's haircuts look one of two ways.  Either I swoop and cut in the bathtub (don't even think about looking to see if it's an even haircut, poor kid looks like he cut his own hair but hey, he can see!) or one of us wrestles him while the other one buzzes the kids head. The second approach is especially dangerous since you never know when you may get whacked either by Z or the clippers.  I do tend to get a bit crazy when cutting hair.  Either way the hair gets cut we end up with a mess, someone (or everyone) ends up really sweaty, and/or we swear we will never do this again.

So tonight was the night where I decided to cut Z's hair, dangling the promise of Popeye's Chicken as a carrot in front of him ( you would have thought it was a carrot for all the good it did).  We found out that bribes do not work with our son.  I swooped and cut to get the longer pieces cut and then we finished up with a buzz cut.  I think we made progress.  Z actually sat still for most of the swoop and cut and once the clippers started doing their job he settled down for that part too.  Brandon got a bit beat up and I was on the floor wrestling with Z at one point but the end result is that Z got his summer haircut.  Whew.

I think the best part, for me, was afterwards where he made a point of looking at himself in the mirror to see what his new haircut looked like.  He's never done that before.

So, what are we left with?  Well, Z still hates haircuts and I still give him as short a haircut as I can so we can go as long as possible between cuts, however, he sat still for more than he usually does and actually wanted to see what he looked like afterwards.  I consider that progress.  Sometimes you have to celebrate the little things.  They really do add up.

Here's to slow hair growth!!

(Anyone want a haircut?)