September 05, 2011

Haircut

On Saturday, the weather at camp was warm enough for swimming. On Sunday, it was cool enough for a hike. But the most exciting thing we did over the weekend was watch Red-haired Niece cut Boy in Black’s hair.
Boy in Black has had long — or at least longish — hair since sixth grade. He doesn’t let it get real long, like my other two sons, but keeps it off his shoulders by cutting it himself. Every couple of months, he’ll go into the bathroom with a pair of scissors and chop some off. He ties it out of his face with a pink bandana when he’s playing Ultimate.

Friday night, he was about to cut his hair when Drama Niece offered to do it for him. He shrugged and handed her the scissors. 

For the record, I loved the haircut she gave him. She added layers, which made it look thick and curly. All that lovely wavy hair made him look younger, like he was back in high school, and emphasized his big brown eyes with their long black lashes.

Everyone else thought the haircut was hysterically funny. And even I will admit that the curls didn’t match his personality. Or his 6’3” athletic frame.

“I’ve been thinking about buzzing it anyhow,” Boy in Black said. “It would be easier.”

Red-haired Niece volunteered to do the job. Beautiful Smart Wonderful Daughter sent a text to Film Guy, who told them where they could buy the right kind of razor. “It shouldn’t be too hard to use,” she said. “I know people who have gotten drunk and shaved their heads, and it usually looks okay.” 

Once Boy in Black had made the decision, the group wasted no time. Red-haired Niece yanked the shaver out of the box, glanced at the directions, and declared that she was ready. She draped a beach towel over Boy in Black. Schoolteacher Niece grabbed the mirror out of my parent’s cabin and held it up. The rest of us pulled lawn chairs over to watch.

“It’s going to look so great,” Red-haired Niece kept saying. “I can just imagine the women on campus when they see you now.” She started right in, happily cutting off long locks and tossing them to the ground. She did the back and sides first, leaving a bunch of hair in his face, before dramatically finishing.

The crowd kept chiming in. “You look like Suburban Nephew now,” and “You look like Jack from LOST.” We all kept teasing him about his movie star features, but it’s true: he’s ridiculously good-looking.

My parents gave the new haircut their seal of approval. Boy in Black went down to the dock, stripped off his shirt, and stuck his head in the water to rinse it off. When he stood up, he rubbed his head with his hands and grinned. “It feels cool.”

Boy in Black, ready for battle

Boy in Black's new silhouette. I took this photo while he and With-a-Why were battling with their light sabers.

11 comments:

Rana said...

That last photo is amazing.

Anonymous said...

That's a cool pic.

fairbetty said...

I love it. Great photo with the light saber!

Liz Miller said...

I love that photo!

YourFireAnt said...

That 4th paragraph is kiss a' death for any kid that age.

;-)

jo(e) said...

FA: Yeah, you're right. He hated it, and hated that I kept saying how much I liked it.

BrightenedBoy said...

You would have to pay me a very large amount of money to do that. Then again, I can remember how strangely liberating it felt to have a shaved head a few years back.

The light sabre picture is really cool!

Magpie said...

the light saber picture looks like someone made it on the computer - which i'm sure you didn't - it's way cool.

Kyla said...

That is a super cool picture!

I love how my hair/head feels after just a small haircut...I can only imagine how amazing it feels to just cut it all off!

jo(e) said...

Magpie: Nope, I don't even have photoshop. I just started snapping random photos at dusk when Boy in Black had his light saber out.

jodi said...

Cool photo!