The Boys' First Haircut in Mom's Barber Shop - Jan 30, 2008

I recently decided that if I'm going to have 3 little boys that need haircuts often, it'd be much cheaper to trim their hair myself. So I got out what I thought were clippers, and bought some scissors and was all ready to naively attempt to cut Charlie's hair. Then I realized the "clippers" weren't going to work, because they were actually Chuck's beard trimmer. But since I had Charlie revved up, he asked that I cut his bangs, which truly were just about in his eyes. So here was my first attempt:



I know this pic was on my last blog, but I'm posting it bigger here so you can see what a sham I am! :) I have a lot of respect for hair stylists now!

Anyhow, I had a couple of hairstylists give me tips, and decided that I could indeed do this. So I bought the clippers today, and Charlie begged me to cut his hair before bedtime tonight. It even came with a dvd lesson, which Charlie watched with me. Then we got all set up. I felt like a kindergartener pretending to have a barber shop with my dolls. It was kinda hard to shake the memory of trimming my riding horsey's hair when I was little...I got in big trouble for that one! Yet I gathered my strength, and Charlie, thankfully, was a fairly cooperative first subject. The only problem was, Chance kept coming in and trying to wrestle me. His new thing is to poke his head between my knees and push to try to make me fall. Not fun for someone who's already off center with a baby belly. It was especially challenging when I would be in the middle of cutting Charlie's hair. But all in all, and despite getting itchy from all the hair, Charlie managed to sit long enough for me to trim his hair. He bangs look much better, by the way. Hopefully tomorrow I'll update with a photo. I left the top pretty long still because I was afraid of cutting too short...baby steps.

Anyhow, next it was Chance's turn. And as if to return the favor of sabotaging the moment, while I was clipping Chance's hair, Charlie decides to grab the scissors and nearly cut the cord to the clippers! I'm so thankful our outlet was a protected one, otherwise it would've fried him good! He cut deep enough that we'll have to wrap it in electrical tape. Yet I was able to finish clipping Chance's hair, but then he didn't have the maturity to sit and let me do the rest. So, I guess that's an advantage to doing it this way, I can finish later. The disadvantages?

1. I'm way slower and less capable than a pro.
2. I have to clean up the mess afterwards.
3. I can't blame someone else if I don't like how it turns out.
4. I don't have extra hands around to prevent the disasters.

So if you'd have any advice on how to do this, or make it go smoother...I'd greatly appreciate it! I have no advice yet on if this is a better way to go...