Tools of the Trade

I think the battle over hair is a never ending battle between a mother and a daughter. My niece is 14 and her mother and her still fight over hair! However, when I do her hair the world is in harmony. Is it because I am better than her mother at doing hair? (I wish!) Nope it is just that I am not her mother!  My daughter and I have had our share of fights about it, but from each I have learned and here are some of those lessons.......

1. Know when to pick your battles- if it is not a necessity to have her hair just perfect for the day and she is not in the mood, just don't do it! There are times more often than not that my little girls hair is just pulled back with a clip because us getting in a fight is just not worth a hair do that will last for only a couple hours! I feel that some times these do's are just as cute and a nice clip can go a long way.

2. Let her have a chance to shine- My little girls is always wanting to do what ever I do. So in turn if I do her hair she wants a chance too. I have found that if I let her "get the knots out" before I do her hair she feels that she has a part in the hair style. I also feel that this is good for her to start learning how to brush her own hair. I also on occasion let her do my hair. Now of course when she is done it is never anything I can go out of the house with, but it actually feels good to have someone else running their fingers through my hair and she is is happy (the most important thing to me!).

3. Give her something to do- I have found that if the t.v. is in the direction I want her to turn her head I am in good shape for the most part. I try to use her little princess chair for her to sit in and watch the t.v. and I just move around it as to not disturb the zone out on Micky Mouse she has going on. I don't really like her to zone out on the t.v., but for the five min. I usually spend doing her hair it is worth it to me. I have also found my greatest weapon is my IPad. She loves it and wants to "play with it" just like mommy. I know some of you are thinking "A three year old with an IPad, no way!" But, it works for us. She gets the time to play with it, I am not always the bad guy saying NO, she is sitting still (less opportunity for it to get dropped), and I can monitor what she is doing on it.

4. Last Have the right Items-I have found that trying to do her hair with out the right brush, comb, or spray is pointless! It took us many attempts to find the right hair brush that she liked how it felt on her and that I liked how it got the knots out. (With as long as her hair is and as hard as she plays their are always lots of knots!) The comb is the biggest item to all of our hair do's. It is how we get all of our parts and how I can (on occasion) get things smooth. I also could not do her hair with out my "no more tangles" spray bottle. Notice I did not say spray because ours just has water in it now because that does the trick and is free! That fine mist that comes out is just perfect.
Last but not least we could not pull any of it off without our hair bands and clips. We have ourselves a little collection that just keeps growing! I seem to find when it comes to bands the right one for the right application is a must. My daughter has thin hair so when we do most detail stuff on the top of her head we use the ouchless small rubber bands. They are so cheap that if you stretch them out there is not worries about throwing them away (and it is funny trying to watch her daddy take them out of her hair). We do the rest of her hair (like larger pony tails) with just a normal hair band. I have found it easy to match up outfits with her hair accessories by just getting a piece of ribbon and tying it to a hair band, cheap and cute. Of course I can not forget our clips! She has a clip in her hair on most days unless I am feeling lazy. I have been asked many times if I make these clips and the answerer is nope! I have to give credit where credit is due, these really cute clips are made mostly by  Jstyles http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Jstyles/169941193040038 , a company ran by a friend of mine from high school. She does a great job and wows me with all of her new items every time!