First Haircut

I took Tory to get her very first haircut on Friday. To say I was anxious about it would be an understatement. I was nervous to lose her precious baby curls in the back of her head and worried she'd have a giant meltdown while positioned in the stylist's chair. If last week's attempt at getting her passport photo taken at Wal-greens would be any indication, I had a one in a million chance of her actually sitting nicely.

If it were up to me, I would've let Tory's hair continue to grow and never cut her darling baby hairs. After spending some QT with Tory during our trip to Savannah last week, Andi thought Tory needed a haircut and heavily hinted that I should take her in for an appointment. Her hair was getting a bit unruly and her bangs especially were constantly hanging in her eyes despite my every attempt to clip them back or pull them up in pigtails. So, Andi was probably right; a haircut was necessary.

First, I did a little online research for haircutting places in my area. I thought about taking her to my hair stylist, but honestly I don't love my lady. I keep going back to her because she does a nice job on my hair but her personality is super awkward and I can't imagine her being all that comforting to Tory. I found a kid's haircut place called Snip Its in the next suburb over and decided to give it a try. If anything, I thought the atmosphere might make Tory feel at ease with toys to play with and other kids waiting in the lobby area.

I timed our haircut trip to be directly after nap time so Tory would be in good spirits. Initially, I wasn't impressed with the salon as the receptionist was practically falling asleep at the check-in desk and had the personality of a Kleenex box. The salon had suckers for the kids and Tory was perfectly happy having that as a special treat and playing with the toys. I, on the other hand, was a ball of nerves as we waited our turn.

Finally, one of the stylists called us back to her station. The lady was super friendly and asked if this was Tory's first haircut. She placed a Bumbo chair within the stylist's chair so she'd be nice and secure. As soon as I sat Tory down, she began to pucker her bottom lip and tears filled her eyes, so the stylist handed me a container of bubbles and encouraged me to blow bubbles at Tory for a distraction. This worked perfectly and soon enough Tory's haircut was almost complete. No tears! No drama! Tory ate her sucker and watched the bubbles while the stylist trimmed up the uneven parts of Tory's hair in the back and trimmed her bangs. The lady saved a few of Tory's baby curls for me and even gave me a certificate for her first haircut which I thought was a very cute gesture.

Tory's first haircut

All done! What a brave little cutie.

Suddenly my little baby isn't such a baby any longer. I'll admit, Tory's hair does look a lot better now that her hair isn't hanging in her eyelashes and the back of her head is trimmed in style. I don't know what it is lately but Tory looks the part of a toddler to me now. A few months ago, I couldn't imagine her turning two years old and now I see the transition happening before my very eyes. She is growing up!

Miss Attitude

Fortunately, Tory's curls remained in tact after her haircut, and if anything they're more prominent now that they've had a fresh trim. I'm curious to see how her hair changes in the next year as summer approaches and the sun lightens it, or as her hair grows and her face changes from baby to toddler to preschooler. Right now, Tory's hair is light brown with warm auburn / red accents depending how the light hits it. Will it become darker as she ages like mine or turn more reddish-brown like her Auntie Lindsay? Only time will tell ....