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Fostering Blog | Alice’s hair

Fulltime Foster Carer - Harriet author of: A Less Ordinary Family

Fostering Blog | Alice’s hair

Monday’s Fostering Blog

Going to the hairdressers is always a bit of a drama. Alice loves all the attention she gets from the hairdresser. One of the issues we have often had is the debate about how much hair needs to be cut off.   On one occasion, we had a classic request from Alice to the hairdresser “can I have my hair cut long like Rapunzel?”  This was no joke. She genuinely thought that this would be possible, and she was pretty upset when the hairdresser could not cut her hair like Rapunzel.

Alice has thick wavy hair that grows outwards as much as it grows downwards. She needs at least an inch or so cut every couple of months to keep it under some sort of control. Alice is adamant she only wants a trim (less than 1/2 a centimetre is what she indicated) but I indicate to the hairdresser that we need the usual amount. The hairdresser is very willing and she tells Alice that she’ll just give it a trim giving me a wink behind her back. She then gives it a good cut and Alice’s hair looks all the more healthy. Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice the amount of hair that had been cut and was now on the floor underneath her chair, and fortunately the hairdresser had good sense to brush it away quickly.

Alice then had to wait while her two older sisters had their hair cut. Patience is not something she is very good at exercising.  She likes the attention that she gets but does not appreciate when the older two get the same attention given to them.

Trying to fill then time we had to wait, I offered her a snack from the leftovers in her lunchbox. She was not impressed.  I could see that she was about to enter into a meltdown, so I quickly tried to distract her by pointing to a Parcelforce van that had just pulled up outside the hairdressers. I questioned whether they might be bringing us a parcel and how exciting that would be. On this occasion it was enough to cast her mind away from the left over grapes in her lunchbox and onto something different.

So the trauma of getting a haircut was over – well at least for another few months when we will have the same antics over again.  What I have learnt, is to have the conversation with the hairdresser before hand, so that she is fully aware of the situation and what we really need doing to her hair.  This way we can avoid the negotiations and arguments when Alice arrives for her haircut.  We are very grateful to out hairdresser who understands the situation and helps the experience to be as good as it possible can.

A Less Ordinary Family Foster Care Blog

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