Haircut

Chase and Mommy took Cole for a haircut today. (He always looks so handsome afterward!) As usual, he was a perfect angel for the barber, Leo. Always so sweet and polite...its almost sickening. Anyway, sitting there watching Cole get his haircut reminded me of two haircut stories.....


1. Haircuts prior to Leo: Cole wasn't always so sweet and nice during haircuts. In fact, his very first haircut was a complete nightmare! I took him to a place that specialized in kids' cuts, thinking that the kid-friendly atmosphere would soothe him into submission. Boy was I wrong! In fact, words can't describe just how wrong I was. You just have to see for yourself.

So, that's how haircuts continued to go for Cole. The screaming, kicking, and fit throwing was to the point that it nearly took 2 people to hold him down and then a trained professional to snip what hair he/she could. It was truly awful. I took him back to the kids' place one or two more times after that. Pat tried to cut this hair. (Pat has cut MY hair since my first haircut!) And, I tried several of those Great Clips type places around town...never going back to the same place twice for fear they would remember us and tell us to leave!! It was awful for everyone, but we did find one humerous chuckle in it all when Nonnie found this cartoon in the newspaper one day:


One day, Big Grandad was telling Leo, his barber, about the trouble we were having with Cole's haircuts. Without batting an eye, Leo said he could cut his hair with no problem. Yeah, RIGHT, I thought! But, we had nothing to lose and decided to let Leo give it a shot. (All the while, I just knew that we'd prove him wrong and he'd have to admit that no one could possibly cut his hair without a 3-ring circus!) Well...guess what? Leo was right. Cole and Leo bonded with a few minutes of chatting and getting to know one another. And, BAM...Cole hopped right up in the chair and let Leo cut his hair like a perfect gentelman. Daddy and Mommy could not believe their eyes!!!! And...so it goes....Leo is now Cole's barber for life! And, the cool part about Leo being his barber is that is truly a family affair. Cole is the 3rd generation of men on Mommy's side to have Leo as a barber!

2. The price of haircuts: A couple of weekends ago while visiting Great-Grandma and Lewis in Nevada, the topic of barbers came up. The men were talking about the price of haircuts. Papa pays around $15 for a cut, Lewis pays $5 (and was assounded that Tom paid so much for his cuts!), and Uncle Stan has Aunt Sheryl cut his hair for free! During this conversation, I sat back and kept my mouth shut about the fact that we pay Leo $22 for Cole's cuts!! (All of the other places we had tried prior to Leo were betwen $10-$12 for a kid's haircut.) $22!!! I don't even pay anywhere near that for my own cuts!!! It sounds outrageous, and really, it IS for 10-15 minutes of work. However, because we love Leo and Cole thinks he is the best thing since sliced bread, we'd pay the man any price!!! So, thanks, Leo, for the great haircuts you've given Cole and for saving my sanity on haircut day!