I don’t know if your family follows this “rule” of sorts, but when my husband and I were growing up, we were told that you don’t cut a baby boy’s hair until after his 2nd birthday. Who knows where this rule came from, but it’s seen as “bad luck” to cut a baby’s hair before they turn 2. We think this might be another African American tradition, passed down from family to family. Needless to say, we’ve followed the first haircut tradition for both of our boys. Well, kind of.
Right before the summer heat hit, we cut Baby Frugal’s hair. If you’re doing the math, yes, we cut his hair before his 2nd birthday. Why? Because he was miserable.
Baby Frugal had thick, beautiful locks…that he hated. He would cry bloody murder when I had to wash and comb his hair. He pulled at it constantly. He felt overheated during any car ride, day at the park, or anywhere where the air conditioning wasn’t blasting. But, we had to follow the tradition, right?
One day, my husband texted me and said “we’re going to cut James’s hair off.” I panicked. How could we do this? We needed to wait. But, what my husband didn’t know is that I wishing this for our boy for a while. I looked at it as a small form of torture to make him sit through another summer with these locks. The panic turned into relief. I texted back “OK.”
I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting the waterworks. He did not like getting his hair cut. He screamed so loud because of the sound of the clippers. I cried with him. I knew the end result would be amazing, but this process was killing me as a mom. With our oldest, Dad took him to the barber for his first haircut. Apparently, he had the same reaction as his littler brother, but I wasn’t there to see it. Thank God. This time, I was present.
Once he was done, we could see an immediately difference in his demeanor. He seemed calm. He was happy. We made the right decision. Sometimes, those traditions don’t mean anything. What means something is our child’s comfort and happiness, even if it’s through something as small as a first haircut.
