First Bowl Cut

Maybe almost as important as a child's first haircut is their first "do it yourself" bowl cut. Max's hair had been getting shaggy for quite a while, but somehow schedules never quite worked out so Dad could take him to the barber shop. When Max's bangs finally got long enough that he'd tip his head back so he could look past the hair hanging in his eyes, we knew Something Had to Be Done. Since it was a holiday weekend and all (meaning the barber shop was closed), Dad and I decided to take matters into our own hands. After all, surely we could do a better job than the barber who likes to give him the Mr. Spock haircut (and who I refuse to let cut his hair ever again). And, if not, we still had a few weeks to let it grow out before Christmas.

We set up a chair in the laundry room and found an old towel to put around Max's neck. We grabbed Dad's beard trimmer, a spray bottle of water, and a pair of scissors -- the only hair scissors we own are actually dog hair trimming scissors, but we figured hair is hair. Max wasn't too intrigued by the whole process (especially when he figured out that we wouldn't let him play with the scissors OR the trimmer) and announced he was "All done!" after about 30 seconds (giving me just long enough to do the bangs). I managed to entertain him by squirting water in my face with the spray bottle while Dad did the back and cleaned up the sides with the trimmer. Max really started getting annoyed when he accidentally ended up with a mouth and nose full of hair clippings. We treated him to an afternoon bath afterwards, so all was forgiven.

Granted, it isn't the best haircut ever, but it isn't that bad either. See for yourself. Here's the before shot:


And here's the after shot:


Note that in the "after" shot (where he is hopelessly absorbed in his first-ever viewing of "Dumbo"), he can actually see without tilting his head at ridiculous angles. Hopefully, we haven't ruined his self esteem for life. ;) You'll have to forgive the awful photos -- Max hasn't been in a cooperative photo taking mood and I've been too full of turkey dinner leftovers to roll myself off of the couch.