"Only really cute girls can wear their hair short."

[elfs]

Yamaraashi-chan's haircut, before and after.

Yamaraashi-chan surprised Omaha and I yesterday by announcing that she wanted to have her hair shorter. I don't know if she was just tired of it being so long or what, but she was convinced-- mostly-- that she wanted to have it shorter than it's current length.

I was lukewarm to the idea. I think she looks lovely with her hair that length (see what I was saying earlier about how relentless this constant opinionating about girls' looks is? Would I be this interested in appearance if I had boys? I wonder about this kind of stuff constantly. I'll probably give myself an ulcer. I know I'm going to be The Crazy Dad when she starts dating) and trying to picture her with shorter hair wasn't really bringing anything to mind.

But she was adamant in her own quiet way, so finally we agreed to go by the salon. She picked the style she wanted out of one of those catalogs of cuts. Omaha stayed with her while Kouryou-chan and I went to the library across the street to figure out to which kid the unknown library card we'd found in the kid's junk bucket belonged.

I will say that when she showed up I was pleasantly surprised. Short hair works on her. It's one of the most successful transformations to short hair I've seen in a long time. I hope her friends like it; she's very sensitive to the opinions of her peers these days. One snarky comment from a boy she likes about an outfit can lead to her never wearing that outfit again.

Comments

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Looks like it may have been one of those bitter-sweet moments too. She looks so much more grown up with it shorter. A first step in that transformation to womanhood. Savor these moments. They don't linger. Enjoy watching the changes. And know that your good influence on her will help her to make better choices through that journey.

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

I agree with the looking more grown up. In the long-hair picture, it looks like she had perfect fairy-tale-princess hair, but the shorter cut looks more like someone facing the world. Could be a matter of the photo composition, though.

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

It does make a big difference, but it isn't a bad difference. Expect some anguish about which outfits to wear.

And hair always grows back.

But your title quote had me expecting something even shorter. That's not short enough to look out of place, not even in my distant schooldays.

[katybeth]

I keep my hair between shoulder length and 6-8 inches longer, same style, because after a point it just feels inexplicably "too long" and I'm much relieved to get a bunch cut off. Then I let it grow back out. Perhaps Yamaraashi-chan had just gotten to that point herself. And shorter hair is much quicker to wash.

As body modifications go, hair is a nice safe one to experiment with.

[velvet-wood.livejournal.com]

Would I be this interested in appearance if I had boys?

Speaking as someone with one of each? Yes. I am every bit as attached to my son's long, glorious, blond hair as I am my daughter's. It's beautiful and I love it, and when either of them choose to have it cut, I shall cry... I'll let them get it cut, of course, because it is _their_ hair, but I'll still cry.

If anything, i'm fonder of my son's because it is more unusual. Shali's hair is gorgeous, and waist-length gold streaked with white-blond hair isn't exactly _common_, but on a boy it's nearly unheard of. And it's just too freaking cute when he does the little rogueish head-toss and peeks at me from behind it, too

Your little girl looks lovely, either way. More grown up with the short hair (make her facial bone structure more pronounced, less baby-round), which would have my husband whimpering quietly and biting his lip to keep from telling her she was never, ever leaving the house again. Fortunately, I also find "over-protective daddy" to be a cute thing, and he doesn't actually _act_ on his more reflexively insane urges, so we're good.

It really is a cute cut, all flippy and light, very bouncy and vivacious looking. I hope she continues to enjoy it.