Hair Envy

Right after Greenleigh was born, someone asked me if I was going to shave her head.  Um, no.  Why in the world would I do that?  They then explained that by shaving the baby’s head it made it so the hair would grow back thick and even.  Absolutely not, I thought, my little girl’s hair will grow when it grows.  So I held strong and no razor got anywhere near my newborn’s head.  Actually, I successfully avoided shaving either of my girls’ heads…Until the other night when Erajh announced that he was going to shave our next child’s head when they were born.  At the time he said it, he was he was looking at Hazeline’s teeny tuft of hair on the top of her head, and I laughed it off, but something inside made me wonder if he really was kidding.

Hazeline’s hair, or lack thereof, has been a topic of conversation in our house lately.  And I can’t say that I necessarily blame him for wanting to do it differently next time.  It has been 20 months.

I know, I know, kids grow and develop at their own pace.  Yes, it’s true, but I’m tired of hearing it.  And so, so many little girls her own age or younger have hair worthy of ponytail holders, barrettes, and those adorable little clips that always match the outfits that I’m buying for her.  But Hazeline doesn’t have enough hair for a “Pebbles” style hairdo (a la the Flintstones), let alone a real ponytail.  And her hair isn’t thick enough for barrettes.   Clips will sometimes stay in, but they never stay around long because they’re too heavy for the little hair that she has.  And as I was looking through pictures while putting together our end of the year albums, it was hard not to notice that Hazeline looked like she was wearing a baby toupee for at least the latter part of her first year.

It’s no wonder she’s constantly mistaken for a little boy when we’re out.  Even if she’s dressed in all pink.  With earrings.  And a shirt that says “Little Sister”.  (Seriously, that has totally happened.  I wanted to grab the person by the throat and ask if they were blind or something.  Because she’s definitely a girl and we’re kinda to the age where you should be able to tell.)

To this day, Hazeline has never had a haircut.  There just isn’t a need for one.  I’ve considered doing it just for the sake of getting her first haircut, but it just seems so pointless.  I’ll wait until she has hair.  And so, I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting.  Twenty months later…still no haircut.

In the meantime, Erajh and I have been fawning over all the other little kids Hazeline’s age that have hair.  From the kids in Hazeline’s class to the kids in our mom’s group to random kids at the mall.  We have no doubt frightened some parents to the point that they give us the “get away from my kid” stare when we go on for days about how gorgeous their kid’s hair is.  We have a clear cut case of “Hair Envy”, and in the process, I’m sure we are giving Hazeline a complex of some sort.  Surely, there must be a support group out there – for both of us.

But then this morning my aunt posted this picture on Facebook.

That’s me at 18 months.  Adorable, no?  But…um…I had no need for a haircut either.  And I guess that all worked out, right?  I mean, I have long, thick hair now.  It’s plenty hair clip worthy.  And I’ve snapped many a hair band when it’s ponytail day.

So I guess we’ll hold off on the head shaving.  For now.

Has anyone ever heard of shaving a baby’s head to promote hair growth later?  Has anyone ever done it?  Did it work?