Day Of Beauty

Amy had her first "real" haircut yesterday. At three years old her hair has finally grown long enough to need a trim. Grandma, Beth, Amy and I headed off to a hair salon that most of the little girls in town frequent, with the intent to simply have a quick trim off the ends of Amy's hair, and to give Beth a simple cut as well. But when the hairdresser asked me if I would like her to "style" the hair, with braids and sparkly glitter for only a few extra dollars, I caved. We've never done anything like that before, and it seemed like such a fun "girl" thing to do. Amy was absolutely thrilled. She sat perfectly still for her trim, and then stayed motionless for 20 more minutes, while they pulled and pinched her hair into French braids. I know from experience that it really hurts to have this braiding done, but she never let out a peep. And then, the crowning moment. After spraying Amy's little hairdo with half a bottle of perfume-scented hair spray, she sprinkled sparkly, rainbow colored glitter onto her head. Amy was happier than I've seen her in a long time. Above, you can see the adorable final product.

And then it was Beth's turn. After about 2 minutes of snips at the ends of her hair, she started to squirm. The woman worked as quickly as she could, but Beth's patience was quickly wearing thin. The stylist offered to do two tiny braids on the top of Beth's head, since this would only take a couple of minutes. Beth agreed, and then proceeded to whine throughout the work on the first braid. When the hairdresser completed the braid and started the second one, Beth tried to rip off the cape. "Thanks, but that's it", she said. "I'm all done. That hurt. No more".

The hairdresser tried to convince Beth that her hair looked a bit uneven now, but Beth didn't care one bit. Off she trotted, with a smile as big as Amy's. She felt just as proud of her one, tiny two-minute braid as Amy was with her hairdo. And of course, Beth had rainbow-colored sparkles, too.

It's going to be pretty difficult to return to this place for a simple trim. I'm sure the girls will be expecting this day of beauty each time we head off for a haircut. But I have to admit, they really, really did look adorable.