Sunday, May 11, 2008

Moms are right, sometimes


Mother’s Day


Sometimes it takes years for your child / children to realize that you actually do know things and the moment you hear those words “Mom you were right” it feels so good!


The teen queen was very blonde as a child. Over the past few years her hair has begun to darken a bit and I’ve allowed her to hightlight it. She is fairer than fair and dark hair just washes her complexion out. The past few trips to the salon, she has begged to go completely blonde. I’ve explained each time that it would be too dramatic of a change and she would not like it. The hightlights have made it appear very natural and the darker undertones have added depth. This past Friday, we both had appointments to touch up and trim our hair. Our hairdresser began the usual process of foiling the teen’s hair. Again, she insisted that she wanted to be blondedy blond blond. Now this is where I usually say sometimes you have to let them experience it, make a mistake and learn.

Leah, my hairdresser said “ok, we’ll wash it and peroxide you but you are not going to like it.”

The teen, of course knowing everything, said “ Yes I will. I know what I want.”

After four hours in the chair, she left in tears and in search of a hood to cover her head.
“I look awful Mom and I am not going to school like this on Monday.”

“Oh darling, your ass will be in school on Monday BUT I will fix your hair.”
We get home and her dad, who never learns, asks “what is her problem.”
Ah, the clueless, brave man.
She raises her voice “I look horrible, I have my period, I’m cranky , leave me alone.”
He slinks out of the room, comes to me in the kitchen and says “that’s the first time I’ve heard period out of her mouth.”

At least she warned him. PMS was invented for this child.

On Saturday I used a champagne blonde to tone her a bit and make her less of a Gwen Stefani blonde. Still not right and now she has resorted to wearing a baseball cap, arms folded across her chest “I’m not leaving the house and no one is to look at me and my eyebrows are stupid.”
She has zero tolerance for pain and refuses waxing. I have offered on so many occasions to fix them for her with a precision electric razor but “Mom, you won’t do em right.”

Guess what, Mom did her brows and she LOVES them. “Mom I love my eyebrows. It’s the first time they have been shaped right.”

Today, Mother’s Day, after cooking brunch with my sisters, I took the teen to the store to pick out yet another color to blend into her hair. I showed her the look that she should have gone for and I was willing to do it for her. “Ok but I don’t think you’ll get it right.”

We picked out a medium blonde and went home. I began to cut pieces of aluminum foil, got an old, small paint brush to apply the color to a few strands at a time to create depth and tone her color. “I thought you were going to put it on all of my hair?”
”For once, just once, will you trust me. I’ve been coloring my hair for more years than you’ve been breathing.”
Arms again, folded across her chest, big frown on her face as she plops on the chair for me to begin. Twenty five minutes later I rinse the color, apply conditioner and she towels her hair and runs upstairs. Five minutes later “Mom, it’s perfect. YOU WERE RIGHT”

With that wonderful quote, I shall smile for the rest of the day and hopefully, she will too.


To all the moms, Happy Mother’s Day and may you be right, just once.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats my queen!

Anonymous said...

Lovely. More and more I'm wondering why it's taken me so long to get around to reading people's blogs.

Kerr