When you cut your own hair

This weekend my step-brother was building a fence at our rental house and he brought his four year old son with him. Usually we can check with him on and off, he will hang out by the work site, or someone will keep him occupied.

Well, this time he was watching a movie and me and his other aunt checked on him. He wasn’t watching the movie, but we found him changing from PJs to real clothes so we left him alone.

About five minutes later, I’m outside and hear him say something through the bathroom window. I ask what he’s doing and he sheepishly admits, “Cutting my hair…” I say, “Oh shit!” and run in the house.

His dad was mad for a moment and then told him he only was allowed to cut his own hair once, which was a pretty good response. I cut my hair as a kid and it turned out horribly. I cut even thicker bangs than I had before and took them back a little creating a mullet. So adorbs.

He used some top-quality scissors and cut pretty close to the scalp, so we had limited options. The mullet wasn’t one of them. I Googled “kids salon” and drove to the closest Kids Cuts, which had a bunch of toys in the lobby and fun seats for the kids to sit in. It was really cool explaining to the stylist that I was the aunt and he did this on my watch. Also, I’m clearly pregnant so my parenting skills were definitely questioned.

My nephew sat in Thomas the Train – a character he usually loves, but I was later told that the place was “too cute” and that he’s “not little anymore” so he shouldn’t have gone there. Whoops. Aunt fail #2. He wasn’t a brat when getting his hair cut though. He politely told me how unfortunately cute the place was after we left.

Anyway, the only option was a buzz cut. I was nervous he would freak out about having such short hair, but as you can tell, he liked it! I sent his mom these pics throughout the ordeal although I wasn’t the one to tell her what happened. Luckily she laughed it off.

As a soon-to-be parent I learned a few lessons: 1) hide scissors and other non-kid-friendly things really well because kids will find them, 2) stay calm like my brother and sister-in-law did because kids do stupid shit, and 3) watch kids better when they are under your care.