Once, when I was about four years old, I exited the playroom of my home while holding over my head a sheet of newspaper and attempted to nonchalantly walk past my father, who was seated in the kitchen. Amazingly, my generally clueless dad sensed that something was amiss, and instructed me to remove the newspaper so that he could see what was up. Much to my chagrin, I was forced to reveal the mess I had made of my hair using a pair of kiddie scissors.
Clearly, that experience left quite an impression, as this event represents what I’m pretty sure is the earliest memory I have from my childhood.
To my daughter’s credit, she didn’t even bother trying to conceal the results of her first foray into the world of amateur hairdressing … an experiment that left her with some rather harsh bangs.
“I cut it because I couldn’t see!” she explained to her stunned and distraught mother. Tough to argue with that logic.
Despite brazenly sporting her new ’do, Little Miss Thing apparently knew on some level that she had goofed up, because she stashed the above shown clump of hair under her bed.
I’m thinking of shaping it into a cat and telling the kids it’s their new pet. It’s about as close as they’ll ever come to having anything larger than a fish.
Oooh. One of my kids took a chop at his/her hair, but it wasn’t a memorable chunk or I would remember who it was.
My, your daughter’s hair is a beautiful color. I think I’d save the locks “just because.”
I never did cut my own hair as a kid and neither did my daughter, but we have known many who have over the years!! The great thing about hair, for those of us who have it (sorry dear brother!), is that it grows back!!
I agree, her hair is a gorgeous color, whether on or off her head!
I never cut my own that I can recall and I’m sure that, if I had, it would be one of those stories that would be told, to my moritification, every year at the holidays.
I did, however, go through a phase as a teenager when I ironed my hair. Not a flat iron, a clothes iron. Knelt down on a stool by the ironing board, flopped my hair over the top and went to work. That came to an immediate and permanent stop when my mom came home sooner than expected and I got busted.
Be grateful.. my daughter, about 4, overheard the hoopla of her cousin cutting her bangs very short, so she got scissors and grabbed her hair over one ear… like a ponytail and cut it ABOVE her ear!! The other side was past her shoulders in soft curls. She was quite proud! There is no fixing that or describing the feeling except to say it was NOT humor.
Well, bless her heart! She couldn’t see – so she did it for practical purposes. That one is a true, take-charge problem solver – she’ll go far in life.
My daughter didn’t cut her hair, but she did decide to shave off part of her eyebrow in the shower one day. She said it was bothering her.
It’s hair. It grows back. Don’t sweat it!
My mother ran (what was way back then called) a beauty shop out of our basement. I think every one of us took a turn at cutting either our own or a sibling’s locks.
When I was 6, I let my 4-year-old brother cut my hair with kiddie scissors…..it was about halfway down my back, and I ended up with a Dorothy Hamill ‘do. We did this right before a family portrait…..my mother was just thrilled.
A few weeks ago, my 2-year-old son grabbed my husband’s beard trimmer and took it to the front of his head, so he could shave like Daddy. Thankfully we caught him quickly, so the damage was minor!
I was smart and cut my sister’s hair, not my own. Right on the crown I cut it pretty much to the scalp so for awhile she was Alfalfa. My mom didn’t think it was near as funny as I did.
Niiice. COuld save you a butt load of money at the barbour……err actually might cost you more. Nevermind.
Great shot/story for the scrapbook! Our daughter just likes to clip her hair up to resemble tiny geysers shooting straight out from above her forehead. I’m just glad she’s not wielding scissors.
My daughter (5) just cut her hair last week…she cut the bangs into an upside down V….it’s beautiful. The thing was, I couldn’t really be that mad, because 1) she looked ridculous and 2) I don’t think I’ve ever told her not to cut her hair. But, if she does it again, look out, she’s in TROUBLE!!!
For me, there’s something about hair…once it’s detached from the body it might as well be open lesions. It’s just gross! And pubic hair just don’t…
When Lil Daughter was about two, she walked past me in the hall and announced, “I didn’t cut anything but paper.” I grabbed her up and immediately saw a one inch chunk cut from her bangs. It stood straight up and couldn’t be fixed. Had to grow out. It’s funny now (she just turned 24) but made for some wierd Easter Sunday photos that year.
I just noticed you have 15 responses and only one of them is male.
+1 on all the gorgeous hair comments. =)
LOL This reminded me of the time I gave my sister a haircut. Well, two actually, but there were some years in between.
The first one was awful, chopped with kid scissors. Bad bangs and an upset mother were the result. My dad laughed.
The second was great. When I was about 11, my sister handed me a magazine ad of a Breck girl (crap, I just dated myself), and I made her hair look just like the ad, styled and all. Thank goodness that one event has forever overshadowed the previous attempt in the family lore.
ROFL…great story. My amateur hairdressing got me the 1980 Dorothy Hamel cut. Rite of passage!
I can’t comment right now…I’m too busy hiding all the scissors in the safe.
I think a large majority of kids try this trick. and I think safety scissors make
the cut worse! I can only imagine my wife’s horror.
Maybe a jaunty Santa cap on for the family Christmas photo?
We haven’t had this experience yet, and I’m not sure we will. At least with our older daughter. She’s quite… well, prissy isn’t the word I’d want to use, but it’s not entirely off-base either. She’s too concerned with spots on her clothes to strike me as someone who will take scissors to her own head. (To her sister’s, that I can see!) Of course, she’s only 4. By the time she’s 14 I’m sure we will have been through plenty of moments like this, only worse in ways I can’t yet imagine.
My little 5 yr old niece cut her 3 yr old sisters hair last week. She managed to take it from shoulder length beautiful golden curls to a short little pixie-style mess. When my sister saw it – there was hell to pay for the 5 yr old “hair genius”. Her punishment may be measured in years. It’s truly AWFUL. At least Jayna just got the bangs. Wish I could post a picture to you here so WW could see how much worse it could have been. I nearly cried when I saw it.
I DID cut my own hair…day before picture day, fourth grade. My mom always cut my bangs wavy, so I decided to “just do it myself”. Little did I know that hair shrinks when it goes from wet to dry, and pulling the hair down to my eyebrows as tight as it would go, while wet, in order get a straight line across would end up looking like I shaved it myself.
Well, mothereffer. I always thought the kiddie scissors were harmless. Looks like it’s back to simply ripping the paper for my kid. We’ll just call her creations…rustic.
I cant stop laughing at Shannons comment! One of my daughters also hid her chopped off beautiful thick full waistlength hair under the couch. Now she has a daughter…I better go remind her to hide the scissors now!
when my sister and i were kids (5 & 6) i belive, my sister cut her hair the day BEFORE our aunt’s wedding….wouldn’t have been bad however she was in the wedding…so she had to get the rest of her hair cut short…
it happens….and it is just hair
I did that when I was three, right before my uncle’s wedding and I was the flower girl. Perfect timing, right?
Sorry it was a shock. My daughter repeatedly performed self-inflicted haircuts, and when she was no longer interested, her older brother took over. My favorite was the quiet Sunday morning when they both burst into my room and shouted “we were playing barbershop!” and she looked like a lawnmower had attacked a wiggling long hair cat. She had a VERY short pixie cut for five years. Now people don’t recognize her because the hair is shoulder-length. Don’t worry – it’ll grow back.
My first haircutting experiment didn’t come till much later to my embarrassment. Using hairdressing scissors and a clipper I let my girlfriend loose on my hair much to my regret. The next day I had a GCSE examination and being late into the hall i walked in with what only can be described as a mess on my head shaven on the left hand side longer at the front shorter round the crown. As i walked in to say there were a few sniggers would be an understatement.