The First Haircut

In the Philippines, there is a tradition that a child's first haircut should only take place after his or her first birthday. What the reasons behind this are, I don't know, but as my son wasn't born with very much hair, his first cut took place when he was nearly 16 months old.

It was the day before Halloween, and I took him to a salon around the corner from where we live. His hair was long enough to brush the nape of his neck, but since it grew so nicely, I imagined a trim, maybe some layers. But with a highly active little boy, it's a bad idea to have scissors so close to his face, so when the stylist said she would use a clipper, I agreed. Big mistake.

Five minutes later, amid much crying and screaming, my baby looked like a concentration camp survivor. Whether or not the stylist intended to take off that much hair, I don't know. But my son now has a genuine buzz cut, so he looks like he's ready to go off to the army. Luckily, he's too young to really care what it looks like, and it will grow back, but I do miss the baby softness his head once had when I brush my cheek against it.

My husband was sad. He wanted to be there for the first haircut, documenting it on video. I didn't know that! He just told me to go get Little A's hair cut, and so I did. He thinks our little boy looks like a little boy now, not a baby anymore, but we are agreed that succeeding haircuts will never get this short again. Next one being when he is old enough to sit still, that is.