Sheep Shearing

As a mom of two little boys, I really prefer their hair to be long. Like, in their eyes shagginess ala Ralph Lauren ads. But, literally every other thing out of their mouths at the park today had something to do with how hot they were. Plus, by the time we left Thing 1's hair was completely saturated with sweat.

So, I bit the bullet and got out the ol' hair cutting scissors (and the clippers). I'm super crazy cheap, so the idea of spending $15 bucks on a little boy's haircut just makes me want to die, so I do it myself more often than not. Sometimes the boys go on anti-mom haircut binges and then we go to a local barber, but for the most part they're good about it. It helps to have bribes. Today's was Smarties.

Before

After

The wool

If you want to cut your own boy's hair, here are some tips:

• Cut the hair dry the first time. When cutting the hair wet, there is an awful lot of shrinkage. That is to say, you may think that you cut the kid's hair to a decent level, but when it dries it's crazy short. Cutting it dry will help you avoid that. It will also help you see what affect your snipping is having.
• Cut the back first
• Don't cut horizontal (like the horizon), your shears should be up and down
• Use sharp scissors that are intended for haircutting, not paper scissors or fabric scissors
• Cut small sections of hair at a time, overlapping areas that you've not cut with areas that you have already cut. This way, you can make sure that you're making it even.
• After cutting the hair straight vertically, cut small Vs into the hair so that it lays more naturally
• When cutting the front of the hair, resist the urge to cut straight across or it will look like you put a bowl on your kid's head. Instead, Take small sections of hair and cut them vertically, again adding the small V cuts into it.

That's all I can think of. Go nuts.