Mysteries

November 23, 2008 in Mysteries, Parenting | 6 comments

How do people get their little girls to wear clips and bows in their hair?  Sam is developing quite a mullet since the only way we can keep the hair out of her face is to keep cutting off the front part.

  1. Ben on November 24, 2008 at 12:58 am

    This is truly an art! :) I try the distraction technique, and when our daughter Ellie is absorbed in something for 2-3 seconds, I gently pull up a tuft of hair and insert a clip/bow.

    I only use the clips with a large metal clasp that’s easy to pinch open. Some of them snap shut and have to be popped back open–they’re a disaster. They always seem to pull hair and we end up with a crying fit.

    Good luck!

    Best,

    Ben

  2. Amy on November 24, 2008 at 8:04 am

    Ben,

    I think I know which clips you mean. You just push down in the middle and up on the edge…you can do it with one hand? I wouldn’t dream of using anything more complicated.

    My daughter’s problem is not the putting in, but the leaving in. Unfortuntely, her hair was not long enough for clips or bows or bands until just a few months ago, so we didn’t have any practice when she was too small to take them out herself.

    She begs for me to put the clips in and watches, fascinated, in the mirror as I do so. After she smiles at her pretty self in the mirror, the first thing she does is pull them right out to examine them. As I’m writing this I’m thinking that maybe I need to let her play with the clips for a few weeks until she is bored with them. But that brings up the problem: these are choking hazards, no? Even if a kid normally leaves them in, isn’t it a no-no to leave them with access to something so small? Or am I being overcautious? Kids at Sam’s daycare are always walking up to me to hand me a tiny rubber band, which horrifies me, but doesn’t seem to faze the teachers at all.

  3. Rational Jenn on November 24, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    I’ve been told to use those thin stretchy rubber bands–the kind that look like the ones my brother used to have with his braces. Evidently, they are difficult to get out and pull on the hair. Many girls, I’m told, will try to take them out, realize it pulls their hair, and stop. Voila! Pig tails!

    MY girl, OTOH, will stand for no such thing, and freak out until the ouchy thing is removed immediately, and then be on guard for any sneak attacks in the future. This, from about the age of 2 or 2.5.

    We’ve had minor success with headbands though. We buy the kind (at Target I think) that have grippy rubber bands built in, so the headband doesn’t slide out of her hair as easily. These will stay in for minutes at a time, sometimes even close to an hour.

    By the way, if you find something that works, let me know! :o )

  4. Ben on November 24, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    Hi Amy,

    The ones I like are the “alligator clips” shown on this page, on the right:
    http://www.funnygirldesigns.com/CLIP___HEADBAND_SIZES.html

    They’re usually bigger–the ones I like are about 1 1/2″ long, so it’s easy to grab a tuft of hair with them. Also because they’re bigger, they should be less of a choking hazard, although that’s something to watch out for. At this point in time our daughter prefers the taste of rocks, so one thing at a time, I guess.

    The clips on that web page to the left are the “disasters” I was referring to! The snap clips…. Ouch.

    Not sure about how to get the girls from taking out the bows/clips and playing with them though…. Ellie hasn’t figured that out yet (she’s 16 months). That’s a toughy.

    Rational Jenn, I’ll have to look into the headbands myself. We haven’t tried those yet!

    Best,

    Ben

  5. Rational Jenn on November 25, 2008 at 10:59 am

    Also, I should point out that things on the hair front have improved in the last year. My girl is 3.5. She can now understand (I think) that her hair will have more tangles, and therefore be ouchier, if we don’t brush it once a day (using plenty of detangling spray). She will consent to headbands when eating yogurt or applesauce, and has even begun requesting them! She is also required to have her hair back for ballet class, which helps my cause, of course.

    Now that she can make connections about hair, she is–well, reasonable might be too strong a word–but open to discussion about it. We’ve even talked about how she’ll have to get a shorter haircut if she refused to cooperate with hairbrushing, etc.

    When I was a child, the hair thing was a big source of conflict between me and my mom and I am determined to not repeat that with my daughter. So we have some basic rules (brush once a day, pull back for yogurt!, etc.), but beyond that, I’m not going to battle over it. As you can tell if you’ve ever seen pictures of her! I am envious of those perfectly coiffed little girls sometimes. :o ) But for me, it’s not worth a huge battle.

  6. Amy on December 3, 2008 at 11:58 am

    I’m with you, Jenn, on not making hair a battle. We didn’t even need to start brushing it until very recently, so I’m just trying to catch up. Sam’s hair gets terribly tangled after every nap, so it looks bad no matter what. I just want it out of her face since it obviously bothers her when it gets in her eyes.

    Ben, those butterfly clips would slide right out of Sam’s hair. I can’t even wear that kind of clip because my hair is too fine – they just slide right off. Sam’s hair is so thin and fine. It’s pretty and soft, but not easy to deal with.

    Haven’t had a chance yet to try letting her play with the clips, but I’m going to try the rubber bands and/or headbands. Those tiny rubber bands are what they use at day care. You have to cut them off, but that’s no big deal.