Today, my husband posted this picture on his facebook:
So Greenleigh wanted her hair braided, Jen tried. Rat tail ensued.
Called out? Sure. And it didn’t help that several people “liked” the picture (with corresponding caption) within seconds of it being posted. But admittedly not my best work. Then again not really my worst. It’s kind of more of the same…bad.
Truth be told, I’ve never been able to braid hair. Sure, I tried to learn at slumber parties when I was little. I longed to be able to french braid, but I never could get the hang of it. Not on my hair and not on anyone elses’ hair. Even now, I can’t braid my own hair. And braiding is just the tip of the iceberg because anything other than a basic ponytail or barrette is out of my wheelhouse. And my ponytails aren’t always the most awesome either…unless you like bumps. Lots of them. I guess doing hair is just a “girl gene” that I don’t possess.
But Greenleigh is a girly girl. Each day she comes to me with a new request for her hair. Today she asked for a braid because her Aunt Penny braided her hair when she came to visit on Saturday night. During the week she asks for ponytails, pigtails, and barrettes – all of which stump me. That’s right, I can’t even get barrettes to stay in right. And of course, the true test is always the bun that’s required for her dance class on Saturday mornings. Combine Greenleigh’s normal squirminess, the bizarre cowlick she inherited from Erajh, and a mom who no doubt didn’t get enough sleep and you have a recipe for disaster. Let’s just say that we’ve arrived at dance class more than once to have other moms look at Greenleigh’s hair horrified, only for me to blame it on Greenleigh squirming in her carseat and rubbing the back of her hair. Wrong? Maybe. But I certainly can’t tell them the truth – that was my 6th and best attempt and it took 20 minutes, at which point I ran out of time and said, “well, that’s as good as it’s going to get”.
Let’s hope that she learns to do her own hair very soon. For her sake.
I think you’re making up this alleged cowlick.
I hate doing hair. – one reason I only wanted boys. Boys, you cut their hair short, and you don’t have to worry about it.
Alas, I had a girl – whose hair is reall’y unmanageable. My husband is always wanting her hair to be nice. Hrumpf, I can’t even be bothered. Too much work – and I don’t have the talent.
My husband is the same way! He’s always cheering on her hair requests and then disappointed that I can’t do them. Perhaps I should be handing the hair responsibilities over to him…wait, that wouldn’t be good…
You showed hunters!! Did you not braid your horse’s tail? It’s the same thing!! What you need to do is go get you one of those Barbie heads and practice on a non-moving target first..then attempt on the squirming child! Good luck! If not, then next visit home I will come give you toddler hair braiding training!! <3
Tracy, I’m pretty sure that you did it for the show at Tropical where I showed Danny in hand. Other than banding the mane, I’m pretty useless. I take that back, I did braid and band for dressage when I evented in high school, but the way that you wrapped it up and under and then banded it, no one could see how bad the braid really was. I also remember bribing friends to do my horses tail in middle/high school. Plus, horse hair is a ton thicker than Greenleigh’s hair that barrettes bail on in a matter of seconds because it’s so fine.
With that said, please come down and give my toddler a lesson in how to do her own hair – I’d love to see you!
As was one of the people that ‘liked’ Erajh’s post on Facebook, I should clarify. I am one of those women who are absolutely awful with hair. Typically, I limit my hairstyles to down, ponytail, and bun and only just learned two years ago how to property use a curling iron so I can completely relate to the difficulty in doing other people’s hair. I don’t know if it’ll get better but here’s hoping that as they grow up, the girls will learn to do amazing things with their hair.
Hi Christina! Thanks for stopping by. Don’t worry, no hard feelings on the whole liking thing. 🙂
And agreed – here’s to hoping!
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