Hair Cuts!

Hair cuts aren't usually blog worthy, but last week, the girls had BIG hair cuts! Adalyn has been asking for months to donate her hair (she saw a video on You Tube of a little girl cutting & donating her hair) and I finally made appointments for all of the girls to have their hair cuts. 

Thanks to that You Tube video, Adalyn knew every detail of how she wanted her hair cut. The day that we cut it, she wanted it worn in two pony tails, knowing they would be cut off, and she even told me how short she wanted it. We compromised a bit there :) 

I didn't get a picture of her hair before we cut it, because I just wasn't thinking. But this is one from just a few weeks ago. 

And this is actually the day we cut it. She had had braids the day before, and she wanted Moana hair, so we left it down and wavy. Now, I know that I said she asked to wear it in two ponytails the day of her hair cut, but that was actually on the day her appointment was scheduled, and that original appointment got cancelled, and she was MAD! She threw a big kicking and screaming fit because she was determined she'd get her hair cut that day and had been looking forward to it! So, on the day that we had to reschedule the appointment for, I didn't even tell her. Just in case it was cancelled again, I did not want her to flip. 

Here's a little video of her getting her hair cut. 

And since I was busy taking video of her getting her hair cut, I only have a picture of right after it was washed :) 

She was a hot mes trying to cut her hair. She kept wanting to look up, and we needed her to look down, so I finally gave her my phone so she could watch a video and keep her head in the right position. Afterwards, she told us that she didn't like her hair :( She wanted it shorter!!!! But, I'm happy with the length ;) 

And here's another cute after picture from the next day. 

While Adalyn had her hair cut, Gretchen was debating donating her hair too. She finally decided she would, and while I was proud of her, I wanted her to be happy. She absolutely loves having long hair, but she's also donated her hair twice before. 

Here's a before picture (that was a few weeks before) 

Here's a little video of Gretchen getting her hair cut.

And, an after! We had to put her hair in 4 pony tails because she had so much! 

An after at the salon :) 

And one from this weekend

I'm so proud of these girls! They were both willing to donate without any push from me. They have such sweet hearts.

Megan didn't donate her hair, but she's asking to. We were originally planning on getting a trim for Megan and Gretchen, and we let Megan go first. But once she found out that Gretchen was cutting her hair, she decided she wanted to as well. But, I couldn't ask our hair dresser to cut Megan's hair again. So, we'll make an appointment for sometime in January and let Megan donate her hair (for the 2nd time) then :) 

Summer Hair!

Last Friday, I took the girls for their summer hair cuts! My girls have had thick and long hair since they were newborns; which always made wearing hair bows easy and fun! And since we've always loved their long hair, I haven't cut it often! In fact, Gretchen was about to turn three before she had her first hair cut, and even then, it was just a trim. When she was almost 5, we really cut her hair and donated it to the Pantene program for the first time. You can read about it here. 

I knew that once we donated her hair for the first time, we would eventually donate her hair again. It was about finding the right time and letting her hair really grow. This past fall, we began talking about donating her hair again, but neither of us were really ready to make the cut. Finally, Megan piped up and said that she was ready for her hair cut (which would be her very first), so I made the girls hair appointments in April, thinking it would be the perfect time to get their hair cut before summer. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the appointment, (DJ's spring football game was on the same day) because when DJ found out that Megan would be getting her hair cut for the first time, he wanted to go too! (He missed Gretchen's first hair cut and her big hair cut, so he didn't want to miss Megan's first!) So, I cancelled the appointment. 

The end of the school year was crazy for us, and I never got around to making new appointments. Last Thursday night, Gretchen got out of the shower, and I was untangling her hair using our favorite brush. When Megan said again that she wanted her hair cut. I asked Gretchen if she wanted hers cut too, and she at first said no. So, I called the salon, made an appointment for Friday for Megan, and then Gretchen decided she would go ahead and get hers cut too. Thankfully, our salon could get both girls in the very next day!

Here's Gretchen's "before".

And her after!

I didn't get a lot of pictures of Gretchen getting her hair cut since this wasn't a new experience for her! We cut off 8 inches, which is the minimal required amount for the Pantene program. 

Thankfully, DJ was able to meet us at the salon for Megan's very first hair cut at age 4!

Her before.....

Those curls!!!! I tried really hard to not cry or be sad about her little curls going away! I have loved her curls!

Ready to be cut!

Her very first hair cut!

Cutting and shaping!

She did so well while Valerie cut her hair!

PS: My hair stylist is fabulous! If you're in the Tulsa area, I'd be more than happy to send you her info!

And, Megan's after!!!!! I can't believe how grown up her hair makes her!

I'm really glad that we were able to donate their hair. It's something that I've always wanted to do myself, but my hair has never grown long enough. I think there's nothing better than being able to teach the girls that this is something so simple that we can do to help other children (or adults) that have hair loss, cancer, or disease. 

We chose Pantene's program because I have heard unfortunate things about Locks for Love. Plus, it only requires an 8 inch donation rather than the 10 for Locks for Love. I looked in to Wigs for Kids before I took the girls for their hair cuts, however they require a minimum of 12 inches. 

G Donates her Hair

I picked G up from preschool last Monday, where she declared to her teacher, "we're going to get my hair cut today!" We weren't, but it sparked some conversation, and G had decided that she was ready for short hair. Hair like mommy's- to her shoulders. I'll be honest, that I was not wanting to cut her hair to her shoulders, but I did agree that it needed a few inches cut off. Her hair had started to become very time consuming to brush and fix every morning, not to mention, washing it was becoming a chore. So, I agreed to take her for a hair cut, when we were in Conway visiting my parents.

There's a cute little kids hair salon in Little Rock, and we have nothing like that in Tulsa. So, we went there last Wednesday, and waited, and waited.... We actually waited about two hours, and I decided I will never get my children's hair cut the day before a holiday. 

DJ actually mentioned Tuesday night that we should donate G's hair, and I told him that it was probably too late to gather the appropriate information and to figure out how to do it correctly. I looked on Locks of Love's website, and learned that the hair had to be 10 inches. I talked to G a little about it, and we had had the conversation about donating her hair in the late summer, but I wasn't settled on the idea, mostly because 10 inches is a lot!

Here's her before pictures. At this point, I still wasn't sure how much we would get cut, but  I knew that it would be a substantial amount. My guess was 4-5 inches. 

Here's the back of her hair. 

When we were finally called, I asked the hair dresser to measure her hair for me, just to let me know how much 10 inches would look like. She asked if we were thinking of donating her hair and I told her that I wasn't sure. She separated G's hair into pigtails and measured her hair, letting me know that 10 inches would make her hair chin length. I was definitely not willing to go that short! But, she let me know that Pantene had a program, where the hair only had to be 8 inches, and that would be at her shoulders. I asked G and she was more than willing to cut 8 inches and donate her hair to the program!

So, the hair dresser measured the correct amount....

and, cut!

I was kind of squirming at that point, but I also wanted to let G know how proud I was of her decision to donate her hair. I think if it had been 100% my idea, I would've had a more difficult time.

 G sat very still during her hair cut and even had two suckers. 

 And here are the after pictures!

I absolutely love how her hair turned out, and it has been so much easier to take care of! I'm not sure we'll keep it this short, and maybe she'll be willing to grow it back out to donate again. 

G loves her hair cut too. She's commented several times about how long hair can get in the toilet, although admits that hers never did- only Rapunzel's, and that she looks like Princess Sophia (Disney's new princess t.v. show that will be airing in January.) 

I think the best part is that we have very few tangles, and it's cut her hair routine in half!