Greased Lightening
So, how do you think Soren would look with dreadlocks?
Hair washing has become a nightmare in our household. Maybe I should clarify...Peter and I are still freshening up our locks with a bit of shampoo now and then. It is the three-year old member of our family who has become a bit more reluctant.
He's never been a big fan of having water dumped over his head. (And, really, who can blame him?) But still, he'd let us do it. But lately he's been completely panicked about the idea. I've found a decent workaround - while he's in the shower with me and getting his hair wet just by virtue of playing in the shower I can slip in a good washing around the sides of his head. And then he gets his hair rinsed while he continues to play in the shower. But that doesn't really work for the top of his head.
I had some friends recommend a special gadget that supposedly makes hair rinsing easier. I bought it, loathe as I am to purchase yet another random specialized tool that serves one small purpose (Let me digress just one second and say that that is one thing that drives me crazy about Martha Stewart. I mean seriously, lemon zesters, garlic peelers, olive pitters...and the list goes on. Me, I'd pretty much just use a knife for all those purposes. But then again, that is probably why I don't have a zillion dollars, my own magazine, satellite radio station and television show. Yep, the only difference between Martha Stewart and me is a lemon zester and olive pitter.)
Ok, so I bought the specialized child hair rinser.
Last night I thought I'd warm Soren up to the idea. So even before we got to the bath I told him how it would work. I let him hold a wash cloth up to his eyes and then I used the empty rinser thingy to do a dry practice run. All was well and good.
So, then he was happily playing in the tub and I got an even better idea...I let him take the rinser thingy in the tub to play with it with it. I'm a genius! Systematic deconditioning, right? (That probably isn't the real psychological term, but Peter isn't handy at the moment so it will have to suffice.)
So, he splashes around loving the new rinser. And then, I take it even one step further in the practicing of the upcoming hair rinse. I tell him that I wanted to rinse his body off. Let me tell you, that kid was out of the tub faster than I've seen anything move in the Kentucky Derby. He literally flew out of the tub. He was so wet and slippery I didn't even have a chance of catching him. So, there I sat, rinser thingy in hand, just wondering where he'd run to.
I did eventually track him down. He was in a panic over the idea of getting rinsed. Poor kid. No matter how much I told him that I wouldn't do his hair, that it was going to be warm and nice and that it wouldn't go in his eyes, he just wasn't buying it. I finally had to just pick him up screaming and kicking back to the bath tub. (Let me tell you holding that writhing slippery bundle of energy was not easy!)
I plopped him in the tub, filled up the bucket and poured it gently down his back. The weird thing? He LOVED it? "Ahhhh," he said (between sniffles) "That feels really nice."
So, the hair went unwashed last night, but hopefully we've taken one small step towards de-terrorizing the idea of getting rinsed. But after that ordeal I'm not very optimistic about my chances of catching him again if he knows that a real hair rinsing is on offer.
If any of you know how to do dreadlocks, please feel free to drop me a note.
Hair washing has become a nightmare in our household. Maybe I should clarify...Peter and I are still freshening up our locks with a bit of shampoo now and then. It is the three-year old member of our family who has become a bit more reluctant.
He's never been a big fan of having water dumped over his head. (And, really, who can blame him?) But still, he'd let us do it. But lately he's been completely panicked about the idea. I've found a decent workaround - while he's in the shower with me and getting his hair wet just by virtue of playing in the shower I can slip in a good washing around the sides of his head. And then he gets his hair rinsed while he continues to play in the shower. But that doesn't really work for the top of his head.
I had some friends recommend a special gadget that supposedly makes hair rinsing easier. I bought it, loathe as I am to purchase yet another random specialized tool that serves one small purpose (Let me digress just one second and say that that is one thing that drives me crazy about Martha Stewart. I mean seriously, lemon zesters, garlic peelers, olive pitters...and the list goes on. Me, I'd pretty much just use a knife for all those purposes. But then again, that is probably why I don't have a zillion dollars, my own magazine, satellite radio station and television show. Yep, the only difference between Martha Stewart and me is a lemon zester and olive pitter.)
Ok, so I bought the specialized child hair rinser.
Last night I thought I'd warm Soren up to the idea. So even before we got to the bath I told him how it would work. I let him hold a wash cloth up to his eyes and then I used the empty rinser thingy to do a dry practice run. All was well and good.
So, then he was happily playing in the tub and I got an even better idea...I let him take the rinser thingy in the tub to play with it with it. I'm a genius! Systematic deconditioning, right? (That probably isn't the real psychological term, but Peter isn't handy at the moment so it will have to suffice.)
So, he splashes around loving the new rinser. And then, I take it even one step further in the practicing of the upcoming hair rinse. I tell him that I wanted to rinse his body off. Let me tell you, that kid was out of the tub faster than I've seen anything move in the Kentucky Derby. He literally flew out of the tub. He was so wet and slippery I didn't even have a chance of catching him. So, there I sat, rinser thingy in hand, just wondering where he'd run to.
I did eventually track him down. He was in a panic over the idea of getting rinsed. Poor kid. No matter how much I told him that I wouldn't do his hair, that it was going to be warm and nice and that it wouldn't go in his eyes, he just wasn't buying it. I finally had to just pick him up screaming and kicking back to the bath tub. (Let me tell you holding that writhing slippery bundle of energy was not easy!)
I plopped him in the tub, filled up the bucket and poured it gently down his back. The weird thing? He LOVED it? "Ahhhh," he said (between sniffles) "That feels really nice."
So, the hair went unwashed last night, but hopefully we've taken one small step towards de-terrorizing the idea of getting rinsed. But after that ordeal I'm not very optimistic about my chances of catching him again if he knows that a real hair rinsing is on offer.
If any of you know how to do dreadlocks, please feel free to drop me a note.
You are so funny...seriously loved your digression into Martha Stewart-dom. Totally agree!
ReplyDeleteWhen we were little and we had to rinse our hair in the tub my Dad would turn on the tap and tell us a little tiny orange man named Rusty lived in it...then he said, "look up and I'll call Rusty". I realize now as I type that this all sounds very weird...but let me digress a moment. There was a children's show in Canada when I was growing up that had a little orange puppet man named Rusty and the Giant on the show would say, "look up...look way up and I'll call Rusty" every episode.
Anyway, worked like magic everytime and I still wonder if Rusty is in the tap!
That's all I can offer...lame as it might be... until I learn how to do dreadlocks
When dad cuts his hair does he use a water bottle at all to wet it? I know luke loves playing with our water bottle. It would take a while to wet his whole head down, but it could be worth a try. I can tell you this...dont force his head under the faucet. I left dan one night to bathe luke, he tried forcing his head under the faucet (thinking there's no other way) to be rinsed. Now every time we go to take a bath he says "mommy do it? Not daddy, ok?"
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