First Haircut

Well, I’ve thought about it and I’ve decided that the easiest way to recap the rest of our Disney vacation is to just break it down by event, each day was packed and to post on each day just seems to daunting.  So, without further adieu, here’s the first installment. 

Gail spent countless hours researching the do’s, don’ts, must sees, gotta haves and you can’t misses of Disney.  One thing I had read about was getting your child’s first haircut at the Harmony Barber Shop.  Clare was born with almost no hair, and didn’t have hair so to speak for a long time, so she’d never had a real need for a haircut.  Reading about the first hair cut at Disney I decided it might be kind of fun, for $18 if she didn’t sit still I wouldn’t be out any more money than I would have been had we gone someplace here, so why not.  I called the Disney reservation line and got the first available time, Saturday at 3pm.   Gail was on board with the plan, but cautiously optimistic, I think she envisioned Clare freaking out and not letting them do it.

During our first day in the Magic Kingdom, Friday, we scouted out just where the barbershop was, if Gail and I were going to do this without Jeff and Greg (they were going to be at the football game) we wanted a clear game plan.   Fortunately the barbershop couldn’t be closer to the entrance, it was literally right there at the front.  I was fairly confident that we could make the trip alone, although by the end of the day Gail and I were both thinking maybe we’d bit off more than we wanted to chew. 

We ended our day somewhat abruptly, I’ll explain why in another post, and while we walked back towards the front I thought maybe we might benefit from stopping in the barbershop and letting Clare see what it was all about.  Knowing that she doesn’t do well in new situations I was hoping this would help.   The shop wasn’t too crowded, considering there were three chairs and very little standing room.  One of the barbers was taking names and sort of running the show, she asked if we had an appointment and told us that should we want to move her appointment to that day we would only have to wait 20 minutes, I decided to bite the bullet, if she was going to freak out then why not just get it over with.  So, Gail, Clare and I patiently waited our turn and talked about how the other people were getting their hair cut.  Of course she announced that she needed to use the restroom, so Gail rushed her off to the ladies room while I waited our turn. 

After a relatively short wait it was Clare’s turn, she wasn’t as excited once I put her up in the chair, but she didn’t freak out.  The barber, who’s name I don’t remember, was marginally more excited than Clare, it was clear he wasn’t keen on doing a little girls first haircut.  Thank goodness Ms. Diane happened to finish up her client and Clare was moved over a chair.  Ms. Diane is surely one of Cinderella’s close friends; she was absolutely perfect, sweet, gentle, kind and wonderful.  She shared her spinning Minnie with Clare and gave her more stickers than she knew what to do with before trimming her hair.  Clare loved the Minnie, thank you Gail for running next door to get one for her as a treat, and enjoyed the stickers so much that she hardly noticed what was going on.  Ms. Diane didn’t take too much length off, but she did even it up in the back, perfect for her first trim.  Not only did she collect a few locks but also she put them in a little fairy pouch for safekeeping.  When she was all finished she sprinkled some pixy dust in Clare’s hair and gave her a set of Mickey ears that said “First Haircut’ on the back.  Clare wasn’t interested in wearing the ears, but I have them with the hair for memories and keepsakes.  Clare also got a certificate indicating that she had her first haircut at Mickey’s house, how fun is that! 

Overall it was a positive experience.  I’m glad we stopped in on Friday; I don’t know that Gail and I would have tackled it alone on Saturday.  I was pleased that Clare sat still and let Ms. Diane do her thing, her hair looks much more even and cleaned up.  Ms. Diane is absolutely wonderful at what she does and made the experience that much better. 

Now that Clare has had her first haircut I hope she is a bit more relaxed the next time, I don’t have any plans of cutting her hair again but when the time comes I hope she doesn’t expect to have it done at Cinderella’s house.