When everyday is a bad hair day

There are so many upsides to being a stay-at-home dad. So many, in fact, I won't even begin to list them here (you're welcome). And from Claire's vantage point, I'm confident she's benefiting tremendously from having me at home with her throughout the day, regardless of what you might think... and you know who you are, Mom. Just kidding. I think. But there's definitely one downside to having me as her primary caregiver, and it has nothing to do with my obsession of making home videos of her lip-syncing my favorite 1970's songs. C'mon, people! A little Juice Newton never hurt anyone, and I submit Eddie Rabbit music adds years to your life (which I'll prove by living to be 128 yrs old). But while this "downside" I speak of might not be a big deal now, it could take a toll when Claire gets older and starts learning the American tradition of judging herself - and others - based on appearance. Of course, I'm referring to my inability to style Claire's hair in any way whatsoever. Even my attempts at creating a standard ponytail results in an epic fail.

So everyday since she started going to school - beginning in ECFE at about 18 months until now in preschool - Claire's been the only girl in class who doesn't wear hair clips or barrettes. She rarely wears her hair in a ponytail, braids or pigtails. Instead, I brush her hair each morning, but it's a mess again by the time we arrive at school and remove her stocking cap. And to make matters worse, I wasn't real happy with the haircut Claire recently received. Not only did the stylist take off way more length than I requested, but she also failed to "blend" the bangs - or whatever it's called when you clip the bangs so it doesn't look like your dad put a bowl on your head and cut around it (which I believe is called The Stewart Boy Bouffant, and I have pictures to prove it). But what could I do? The stylist had some freakish tattoos on her forearm (plus a lovely one on her neck - or maybe that was a hickey). I've got nothing against tattoos or people with them, but this girl didn't strike me as someone who would take constructive criticism well. So I decided to keep my mouth shut, pay for the haircut, grab Claire's complimentary sucker and sticker, and get the hell out of there as fast as possible. 

But today I found this site: Cute Girl Hairstyles. There are tutorials and everything on how to style hair, which maybe I'll use if Claire's hair ever grows out again. Then again, baseball cap weather is just around the corner...