I want my child to be a long haired child
September 24, 2012 11:47 AM Subscribe
My four year old son has decided he wants to be a long haired hippie child. How do I help him grow out his hair, while keeping it out of his eyes? Is there an intermediate haircut between a bowl cut and a long bob-type cut?
My son has fine, straight hair, with no discernable part. He would like to have long hair, down to his shoulders or beyond, like this. His hair is currently growing out from a bowl cut, kind of like this, but longer, actually in his eyes. I think he will get a part once his hair has enough length to have weight, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to help keep it out of his eyes?
We have tried barrettes and ponytail holders, both of which he loves, but they get lost on the playground almost immediately upon arrival at school. I have tried blowdrying to create a part, but I haven't been successful. I don't really want to put product in his hair, because I'm worried it will end up in his eyes or his mouth.
Is there an intermediate haircut I should give him? Is there a trick to growing your hair out without covering up your eyes or creating a mullet? If so, please send pictures.
My son has fine, straight hair, with no discernable part. He would like to have long hair, down to his shoulders or beyond, like this. His hair is currently growing out from a bowl cut, kind of like this, but longer, actually in his eyes. I think he will get a part once his hair has enough length to have weight, but is there anything I can do in the meantime to help keep it out of his eyes?
We have tried barrettes and ponytail holders, both of which he loves, but they get lost on the playground almost immediately upon arrival at school. I have tried blowdrying to create a part, but I haven't been successful. I don't really want to put product in his hair, because I'm worried it will end up in his eyes or his mouth.
Is there an intermediate haircut I should give him? Is there a trick to growing your hair out without covering up your eyes or creating a mullet? If so, please send pictures.
Best answer: I went from bangs to long, and hair in my eyes drives me angry. So I learned to braid the front hairs in a kind of French braid across the top of my forehead. It might look odd on a boy, but you can probably make it work. Here are examples:
> http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i97IvvSaziU/TJKPUF9TLyI/AAAAAAAAI50/J0AhFcF2bmM/s1600/DSC_0040.JPG
Here it's called a "French braid headband":
> http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://www.cozyscutsforkids.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/French-Braid-Hairband-Cropped1.jpg
It's fussy to do at first, but you get good (and faster) at it soon.
Alternatively, these tiny hair clips are my new favorite thing. I use a couple near each temple. My hair is too fine for barrettes in these spots, so these clips are great. You can probably get them at a drug store or supermarket.
> http://www.lovemaegan.com/2010/05/perfect-tiny-hair-clips.html
posted by amtho at 11:56 AM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
> http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_i97IvvSaziU/TJKPUF9TLyI/AAAAAAAAI50/J0AhFcF2bmM/s1600/DSC_0040.JPG
Here it's called a "French braid headband":
> http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://www.cozyscutsforkids.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/French-Braid-Hairband-Cropped1.jpg
It's fussy to do at first, but you get good (and faster) at it soon.
Alternatively, these tiny hair clips are my new favorite thing. I use a couple near each temple. My hair is too fine for barrettes in these spots, so these clips are great. You can probably get them at a drug store or supermarket.
> http://www.lovemaegan.com/2010/05/perfect-tiny-hair-clips.html
posted by amtho at 11:56 AM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
My oldest son grew his hair long when he was a little older than that. He just let it hang down in front of his eyes until it got long enough to part to the side on its own. It didn't seem to bother him. When I finally saw his face again, I almost didn't recognize him.
You might try caps, or bandanas. When my partner was growing his hair long, he got through that stage with bandanas.
posted by not that girl at 11:57 AM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]
You might try caps, or bandanas. When my partner was growing his hair long, he got through that stage with bandanas.
posted by not that girl at 11:57 AM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]
Have you tried Gorilla Snot (Moco de Gorila)? It sounds disgusting, but it's cheap and it works. Just shellac his hair back with the Moco and that's it. It's made for kids so you don't have to worry about ingestion.
Can be ordered on line. I can get it at a carniceria by my house.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:58 AM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
Can be ordered on line. I can get it at a carniceria by my house.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:58 AM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Being a cute little boy gives him an option the rest of us don't have. Sweet 90's style tennis headband.
they stay on, look 'tough' in a silly way, and are washable.
posted by French Fry at 12:02 PM on September 24, 2012 [10 favorites]
they stay on, look 'tough' in a silly way, and are washable.
posted by French Fry at 12:02 PM on September 24, 2012 [10 favorites]
You can rub a tiny bit of jojoba oil into it while it's damp and then comb it with a bristle brush. That'll keep stay hairs from blowing around into his face.
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:02 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by bonobothegreat at 12:02 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]
I just grew out my bangs, and yes, it was annoying when I couldn't tuck them behind my ear. I got around this by braiding the bang, and then clipping it using the clips Andrhia suggested. The braiding gives you something thicker to clip.
posted by blurker at 12:04 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by blurker at 12:04 PM on September 24, 2012
Best answer: I think boys growing their hair out look SUPER CUTE with an elastic headband -- like James Massone from last season of The Voice.
posted by kate blank at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by kate blank at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2012
My son used to fence and had super long bangs that would get in his eyes. We used bandanas, tied pirate style, and also had good luck with the skull caps bikers wear under their helmuts. They may be too large for a 4 year old head though.
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 12:42 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by SweetTeaAndABiscuit at 12:42 PM on September 24, 2012
Does the hair in his eyes bother him? If he's complaining that's one thing, but my hair was a lot like that as a kid (although I'm female), and having it in my eyes bothered my grandmother a whole lot more than it bothered me. Really I just wanted her to stop fussing about my hair already, it's fine, just leave it alone, stop touching meeeeeeeee.
posted by anaelith at 1:06 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by anaelith at 1:06 PM on September 24, 2012
Yeah, I was thinking headbands too. Or a ball cap, or really any kind of hat. When I was four I had one of those blue-and-white-striped engineer's caps and it was like my favorite thing in the world.
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:17 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:17 PM on September 24, 2012
When my son was little, he wanted to do this, but my deal with him included--no fussing about brushing or combing, and he had to keep it clean. When he starts going to school--be aware that lice enter the picture. Headbands were his best control item.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:19 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by Ideefixe at 1:19 PM on September 24, 2012
Nthing headbands. That was my go-to while growing out my own bangs as a teen so I could eventually have shoulder length hair (all the same length).
posted by Michele in California at 1:36 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by Michele in California at 1:36 PM on September 24, 2012
Headbands are okay but I find my daughter (fine hair, no part, growing out a fringe) is starting to get actively poked in the eye by her hair. She takes the headband off a lot but it stays on better than hairclips.
One of the techs I worked with a while back had his hair back in a simple black elastic headband (like a giant hair tie) and it looked pretty good.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:27 PM on September 24, 2012
One of the techs I worked with a while back had his hair back in a simple black elastic headband (like a giant hair tie) and it looked pretty good.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:27 PM on September 24, 2012
Have you tried the tiny silicone hairbands meant for the ends of ethnic braids? They would have enough grip to not slide out. Walmart and drugs stores sell them in hundred packs.
My boyfriend is growing his hair out right now too and pulling the hair just from the bang area and putting it in a ponytail at the crown of the head is fairly effective. Here's a Sim female with this hairstyle.
posted by Talia Devane at 4:23 PM on September 24, 2012
My boyfriend is growing his hair out right now too and pulling the hair just from the bang area and putting it in a ponytail at the crown of the head is fairly effective. Here's a Sim female with this hairstyle.
posted by Talia Devane at 4:23 PM on September 24, 2012
If the decision to grow his hair long was his decision and his desire, then it strikes me as an easy and nice way for him to willingly get more experience with acting on long-term goals - continuing to do a thing despite it being unpleasant because you think the long-term payoff is worth it.
Ie, this is a problem that doesn't need fixing.
It's difficult to engineer these situations, eg. having to do chores or save up pocket money to buy a wanted thing is clearly a manufactured/false scenario (the parent could simply pay more pocket money, but refuses. The room doesn't NEED to be vacuumed so often, but parent insists, whatever). But here, it's a completely non-rigged experience of his decisions and his willing embrace of costs to get the reward he chose.
(When I was a kid and grew my hair out, I just figured I had to put up with it in my eyes until it was long enough to not be in my eyes. It wasn't an issue.)
posted by anonymisc at 6:38 PM on September 24, 2012
Ie, this is a problem that doesn't need fixing.
It's difficult to engineer these situations, eg. having to do chores or save up pocket money to buy a wanted thing is clearly a manufactured/false scenario (the parent could simply pay more pocket money, but refuses. The room doesn't NEED to be vacuumed so often, but parent insists, whatever). But here, it's a completely non-rigged experience of his decisions and his willing embrace of costs to get the reward he chose.
(When I was a kid and grew my hair out, I just figured I had to put up with it in my eyes until it was long enough to not be in my eyes. It wasn't an issue.)
posted by anonymisc at 6:38 PM on September 24, 2012
Yeah, I remember that made my grandma crazy when I was growing out my bangs back in middle school. Didn't bug me, though. Growing out bangs might get in the eyes occasionally, which feels vaguely like having an eyelash in your eye except that you can fix it right away just by brushing your bangs out of the face. And it's definitely a hassle for sports (headband is a great idea). But day-to-day, if you wet them to be parted to the side as much as possible and let them dry or blowdry them that way, he'll master the head flip and in not very long they'll be long enough to go behind his ears.
posted by Lady Li at 7:34 PM on September 24, 2012
posted by Lady Li at 7:34 PM on September 24, 2012
Response by poster: Thank you for all the excellent answers! He is actively bothered by the hair in his eyes - it pokes him in the eyes and he can't see so he runs into things - so I want to help him come up with a solution. I think headbands and maybe little clips are going to be the way to go.
posted by faustessa at 8:17 AM on September 25, 2012
posted by faustessa at 8:17 AM on September 25, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
It'll bother you more than it'll bother him, if that helps any.
posted by Andrhia at 11:52 AM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]