My Baby’s First Haircut

My baby isn’t looking so much like a baby anymore. There’s the big boy clothes. The running here and there. The big toddler attitude. And now, a fresh big boy haircut. This is crazy.

And while this will likely be one of thousands of haircuts he receives, there will only ever be one first haircut. So this was a process I had to document. 

And let’s be clear that this was, in fact, a process. It started with Jordan and I having multiple conversations to lock down the who? (Manny, the Dominican barber), what? (a burst fade style), when? (before Thanksgiving, so he could stunt in front of the family), and where? (a barber/African hair braiding shop on 125th Street).

While we loved the little puffy hair dome Jameson had been sporting, it had gotten a little unpredictable. Certain spots had grown way longer than others. Wearing a winter hat left his strands straight and thus had him looking like Bernie Sanders. Something had to be done and it became silly to delay the inevitable.

The visit to the barber shop started off great. Jameson was inexplicably excited about his new surroundings. When I took this picture, he literally–unprompted–yelled out, “Cheeeeese!” Oh, but little did he know what was coming.

You can see he started to get a little uncertain when the paper towel went around his neck (this, by the way, killed me. This little boy was doing grown man things, and I could hardly deal.)And his uncertainty quickly changed into full blown suspicion about what was about to go down. As much as he wasn’t feeling the whole process, he kept still and let his face do all the talking. You can see that Jordan’s face was talking too, lol. And can we talk about the Dominican pride oozing out of this barber shop?! Bachata blasting in the background, red and blue walls, and the capes are essentially just oversized Dominican flags. Get into it.Thank goodness for Sesame Street on the iPad, because that certainly bought us some time.But eventually, when his hair needed to be combed out and trimmed, Jameson gave up on trying to stay strong. He essentially looked at me and asked, “How can you be taking photos at a time like this???”Pobrecito.

When it was all over, he looked in the mirror and was actually quite pleased.

For anyone wondering if I saved his little curls (which is what my mom did with my hair), I’m sorry to report I didn’t. It’s not really my thing. But what is my thing is taking lots of photos to document the process, as you can see. :-)

And without further ado…

this is my little guy sporting his new look.Cue the heart-eyed emoji.