Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Last weekend, we met a crossroads. And this was a big one. Should Sweet Pea get her hair cut?

SP started growing her hair eight short years ago. From day number one she has had fast growing hair. Almost every day of her life has found her with a braid, pony tail, pig tails or a snarly hairstack. Lately, her hair has preferred the snarly hairstack most of the time. Most mornings the hairbrush would hide itself for fear of another 'boot camp workout' through SP's tangled jungle. These hair brush excursions through the brier patch were also not very fun for SP. This was one reason that SP was talking more and more about a new do.

The other reason encouraging her was that a couple years ago her cousin, Spice, with long hair had donated her hair to Locks of Love. SP was all excited about this.

So SP was all ready to chop it off.

I was ready to give up arm cramps from brushing for thirty minutes each morning.

Number One Son was ready to stop listening to SP scream every time I caught a knot in the hair brush.

One member of the household, however, was struggling with SP's decision.

Eight years ago, Lady Di had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. Her beautiful baby girl has had beautiful long tresses for many of those years. Her beautiful hair has held countless pony tail holders, barrettes, hair bands, ribbons, tiaras, combs, flags, flowers, curlers and many other accessories and accoutrement.

This was from one of our many wacky hair days at school.

Over the last eight years, SP's hair has been an important part of her. And Lady Di wasn't sure if she wanted to let her beautiful baby girl go just yet.

But in the end, we finally wore LD down and she made the appointment.

LD and SP took a trip downtown to Rocco Altobelli and made an afternoon of it. SP was very excited and was telling everyone she saw that her hair was going to Locks of Love today. When she sat down in the chair, LD's beautician Michelle, started brushing SP's hair.

"Oh my goodness", she exclaimed. "This hair is to die for!" Then she called all of the other girls in the salon over to show them SP's hair. They all then took turns running their fingers through SP's thick luxurious hair. Commenting on her natural highlights and waves and how perfect it was for Locks of Love. "I think there is enough here for two braids!", her stylist stated.

She braided two twelve inch long cords of SP locks and 'one', 'two' snips and they were gone.

I don't think SP shed a tear, but LD's eyes leaked a little salt water that day.

The stylist did a good job on SP's new short do. Much better than this haircut. And SP was all smiles too.

When she got home she couldn't wait to show everyone. She acted just like the shampoo models on commercials by shaking her head side to side to let her hair fan out. Then she would bend her head back and slowly run her fingers through her now shorter luxurious hair.

In the end, everyone loves SP's new look. We still have our beautiful baby girl. I have had to make one adjustment though. Now when I have to find SP in crowded group of kids, I can no longer find her by looking for the child with the pretty, long hair. I have to look for the slightly more grown up looking, short hair of my still beautiful daughter. The daughter I'm proud of for generously donating one of her prized processions to make life better for someone else's daughter going through a tough time.

For now, we are all enjoying SP's new look, but I know it won't be too long before the hair brush goes on strike again.

Orange?

We've kept Number One Son waiting for nine plus long years, but this week we finally broke down and let him have what he wanted. Every month or so he has asked for this, and every month or so we had to put our collective feet down in defiance. As our defiance weakened and the timing was right, N1S saw his opportunity and jumped at it.

"Can I have a Mohawk?"

Sorry Grandma and Grampa, it's done and there's nothing to do now but wait until it grows out. Since it is the beginning of summer and there are no important pictures scheduled, we said it was now or never. Lady Di probably would have preferred never. But our hairdresser made a fun time of it. N1S was little tentative at the hairdresser's when she actually started to buzz him. He wasn't very talkative and I thought he was maybe having second thoughts. Sweet Pea helped a lot when she cheered him without any prompting from me.

"That looks sooo cool!", she gushed.

After that encouragement, he was excited to know what kind of clippers she used and was describing how different his hair felt.

SP got her haircut too, but it was a far far cry from a Mohawk. She probably lost just as much hair as N1S but you couldn't tell since she just got her bangs trimmed and an inch off her length.

Not as extreme as N1S but it looks just as good.

After haircuts, they each chose a Fun Dip from the treat basket and we were off to show off their coifs. We actually only went to the hardware store and the dump, but N1S did get some nice comments at the hardware store.

So now N1S has a haircut to match his skateboarding lifestyle. Or at least he looks like he has a skateboarding lifestyle. We also have to remember that he needs sunscreen on his head now. He hasn't gotten annoyed with his parents for constantly rubbing the stubble on his head yet. He even says he likes the way it feels.

Our plan is to let it grow out and get back to normal before school starts this fall. I'm a little worried now that we have let him have a Mohawk once, how will we be able to say no in the future? I guess it could have been worse. He could have wanted a hairstyle like this poor guy.

We dodged a bullet there.

Thanks, Father of Five, for the use of the picture from your last haircut.