Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bullied Into Cutting

I have a sad story to tell today.

Sofie began asking if she could cut her hair short last week. She became more and more insistent that what she wanted was to cut her hair. I'm personally of the opinion that it's her hair, so she can do what she likes with it. I talked it over with her father and we agreed that we would allow her to cut to midback length.

As the stylist began cutting away her beautiful locks, she asked why Sofie wanted to get her hair cut off. Sofie told the stylist that Madison (not her real name, of course), a girl in her class, had been making fun of her and told her that she was ugly. Madison told Sofie that she'd better cut her hair off, or she'd be ugly forever. This may sound ridiculous, but Sofie is only five years old.

As I heard my daughter telling the story, I was fuming. I couldn't believe that my daughter was bullied into cutting her hair!

Once her hair was cut to the middle of her back, Sofie turned to me and said, "It needs to be shorter, Mommy. Madison will be mad if it isn't up to here." She indicated chin length.

"Absolutely not!" I said, "Mommy and Daddy decided that you could cut to where it is now and I absolutely will not allow you to cut more just because someone else told you that you had to cut it. If you decide that you want to cut it shorter later, we'll talk about it."

She seemed worried, but didn't argue. She hasn't complained about the length of her hair except to mention once or twice that it needs to be shorter because of Madison.

I sat down this morning and wrote out a long letter to her teacher about what had happened. I asked the teacher to set up an appointment with me to discuss what had happened. I am so mad! Sofie had beautiful hair and seemed really happy with it. The fact that someone else made her feel bad enough about her hair to make her want to cut it just really ticks me off. I'm mad at myself, too, because I didn't ask the simple question "Why do you want to cut it, Sofie?"

It is hair, though, and it will grow back, if that's what she wants. Her hair grows incredibly fast, too. I'm just worried that she'll succumb to bullying in other ways. I'm interested in what the teacher will say about what happened. In the teacher's defense, the bullying seems to have happened in the cafeteria, where the teacher is not present and the children are supervised by lunch monitors. Sofie may have been scared to tell her teacher (and me) that someone was bullying her.

I'll definitely update after I talk to the teacher. Bullying is not okay, whether it's about hair or anything else.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I Went Red!

Nightshade from Nightblooming on Etsy whipped up a custom batch of henna for me and I applied it last night.

I was seriously stressed about dye release, having never really hennaed before. I kept checking the color in the back of my hand. When the color didn't seem to get any darker, I took the plunge.






The color is absolutely perfect and really compliments my skin. I didn't realize how much my hair blended with my skin tone until I saw the red. The contrast is really lovely.

Please don't mind my ends. They really don't look as bad as they do in the photos. I've been trimming rather randomly, so the ends are thinner than usual. 

I also purchased these pretty combs to tuck into my buns:


In related news, the pictures make me wonder if I've wandered into "Can I call this classic?" length.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Grahtoe's "Ice Hairtanas"

Holy crap! Check these bad boys out!





They're acrylic and with aircraft grade aluminum and they are STUNNING. I think these are simply the most amazing things that Grahtoe's come up with so far. I'm not a big fan of hair swords, but these have even ME drooling over them!

So cool! These aren't up on Grahtoe's shop yet and I can't even begin to imagine how much they'd cost, but they sure are gorgeous! On Grahtoe's Facebook page, they encourage anyone with an interest to shoot them a convo. Whoever gets them, action shots, please? These are incredible!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Lilypad Bathworks

I found some awesome protein hair mist to help with my daughter's morning tangles. It's made by Lilypad Bathworks and you can find it in their "Tiki Bar."

The best part is, they have numerous scents to choose from, so you're bound to find something you love!

I bought Buttercream Frosting and Sugar Fluff. The Sugar Fluff smells like delicious icing and I can smell it throughout the day whenever my daughter tosses her hair.

I'm purchasing some of Eva's conditioners to see how they work. If the scents last half as long as the protein mist, I'll be a happy camper!