Four year old's hair disaster

Contains_Mild_Peril

Ruthyjo, I'm not surprised you're upset and angry about what's happened, but it's good that you're not letting your daughter see how awful you think it is! After you've explained to her that the child who cut her hair should not have done so and that she should not allow other children to cut her hair, the important thing is to reassure her and be positive about her new proper haircut at the hairdresser's, and make sure she knows she can grow it long again, but it's not going to happen overnight. Do take photos of her hair as it is now - it might not be funny now, but she'll laugh when she's older!
Your hairdresser will know how to make the best of the current hair situation, and if you explain to her/him that the plan is for your daughter to grow her hair long again, the hairdresser can advise on styles which will still look OK during the growing back stage.
My sister and I gave each other bad haircuts when we were little too, and years later when I was about 9 (and probably should have known better) I read a girls' magazine which said I should trim my eyebrows every week. I didn't realise it meant I should pluck them, so I attacked them with a pair of scissors!
My mother used to trim my fringe, and once when she had managed to do it badly squint, I had my photo taken for the local paper complete with slanty fringe. She also told me that when she had very long hair as a schoolgirl, she used to sit on it to stop the boys from dipping it in the inkwells in class.

sarahlouise210

ollym wrote:

I don't know if people are going to hate me for this but I just want to say that this thread is ridiculous. Your daughter is 4 years old for god's sake... she's got a mangled haircut - who cares, 4 year olds SHOULD be playing dress up, they should be dirty, they should be causing mischief, laughing, having fun, playing with mates - it's part of life. You should be laughing wither her, not too scared to look at her!

Take some photos, laugh at it, and wait for it to grow back.

I can't help thinking that your overzealous attitude will be far more damaging to your daughter than the haircut.

Whilst I agree with what you say a 4 year old should do...I cannot agree that she should not be upset. My daughter is 4 ..she has thick long hair down to the small of her back - every day I wash it and plait it and she looks absolutely immaculate (while I look ragged!!) I would be devastated if this happened. Having said that , I would make her think it was a big adventure and let her know that with her new hair she looks absolutely beautiful.
I cut my fing off at the roots when I was 3 ...I was being a bridesmaid that day - argggghhhh!!!

seven-day-weekend

It's only hair, ....it will grow back.

It's not as though someone has cut her leg off.

seven-day-weekend

Jay-Jay wrote:

Trix My daughter concocted a lie that she was at school, using scissors and her head was itchy so she scrached it and she must've 'accidently' cut her hair three times on one side and three times on the other :rolleyes: It took about 3 hours to break the lie and it was the lie which she was grounded for, not the haircut.




I think it depends what type of person you are. I was once told that I was 'too precious' which means that I care about things I have invested time in. Having watched your daughter's hair grow for several years I know how upsetting it is to see it cut off.

How would you feel if someone spilled gloss paint on your carpet? It's replaceable and not such a big deal but it would be very upsetting for me whereas you may not care at all.

I would be annoyed but wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

People in the world are starving and dying of Aids. Why would I lose sleep worrying over a carpet?

And the little girl's hair will grow back. I actually think it is quite funny.

puffinmuffin

when i was five and my sister three i gave us both a "makeover" My mum was livid. We had straight blonde hair of which she was very proud! Now we just laugh over it, in retrospect it was the mid '80s so it was probably looked very fashionable!!! I know it's gutting but it well grow back! Please don't let your daughter feel self conscious about it, take her to Claires for some pretty accessories.

emmaBZ

All you can do is take her to the hairdressers... then make sure you compliment her on her new style loads.... so she doesnt get self consious ( cant spell today !) then id take her to buy some really nice sparkly hair clips ect make it in to a special treat or have a make over day with her yourself ...:p at least then she wont be bothered about her hair ....i also wouldnt let her see how much it upsets you i think kids pick up on a lot ....and it will grow back....

Penny_Watcher

When DD1 was much younger most of her hair fell out (she was desperately ill for a long time). When she began to recover her hair started to grow back. She had stong healthy new short hair growing through the thin longer hair that had grown whislt she was ill.

Poor kid looked like a ginger dandylion clock

DD2 has waist length chesnut coloured hair.

I'm torn between suggesting the OP should be at least grateful that her little girl is happy and healthy with lovely (although temporarily mis-styled) hair and thinking how upset I'd feel if some little horror had hacked at DD2's lovely locks.

I think it's a betrayal thing. You leave your little 'un in someone elses care and she's returned to you in a right state. Not good.

Poppy9

Sorry but I'm with the OMG it awful but so funny crowd.

It's what kids do. I wouldn't ask your friend to pay for haircut as I think you would lose a friend. If she offered I would refuse to accept to as it's just a child thing.

I used to regularly cut chunks out of my own hair. I had a lovely fringe at one stage that was about 1cm long. My family nicknamed me Tufty! It looked so fetching with my waist long hair (minus a few hidden chunks but hair was wavey so not too noticeable:D ). If I had a younger sister I would have probably given her a hair cut too but I only had older sisters who wouldn't let me near them so I had to content myself with the dog. He used to love me brushing his coat and trimming it:eek:

My DD has lovely hair, blonde and waist length. She has never had the hair cutting fascination, in fact she has always hated having her hair even brushed. I would love her to have a chin length bob as I think it would really suit her and look more uptodate (she is 11) but she's having none of it.

The hair will grow back, there are worse things that could happen. My DD fell off my back when we were playing horsey when she was 3. She lost her 2 front teeth. I could either let guilt eat me up because I felt it was my fault for playing the game with her or just be thankful that it wasn't more serious. It was 4 years before she had front teeth again but she handled it superbly. When she started school some of the kids would ask her where her teeth were and she just told them she knocked them out. Didn't stop her smiling.

flufff

If its any consolation my partners daughter is not quite 3.She mananaged unsupervised in her mums bathroom to cut a few good chunks out of her own hair so tisnt always older kids doing it!

ruthyjo

Well my daughter has been to the hairdresser and had a rescue cut. It looks pretty awful although the hairdresser did a really good job under the circumstances. DD has a fringe which means every time I look at her she looks wrong. She has a reasonable amount of length left (with a bit of a gap on one side), still a couple of inches below her shoulders.

We are telling her how gorgeous she looks whilst still feeling pretty gutted.

I won't be asking my friend to pay for the haircut. I certainly wouldn't compromise a friendship for a small amount of money. (Hairdresser felt so sorry for me she did it half price anyway. It really was pretty bad!) I know there are more important things in life. OH was on holiday on the day of the chop and had taken our two boys to see his dad who is terminally ill so I'm well aware that in the scheme of things a bad haircut is minor. My friend was doing me a massive favour by looking after DD who finds it too traumatic to see Grandad the way he is now. I'm a bit upset that my friend hasn't been in touch but don't think she can have realised the extent of the damage.

I would never had imagined how sick I would feel at what happened and would probably have been one of the posters telling me to get a grip. I know this is a moneysaving forum but I posted on here because I felt so miserable and just wanted to share it and get some support.

Thanks to everyone who expressed sympathy/understanding. It's happened to so many people I guess I'll have to treat it as a rite of passage!