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Hair Today, Memories Tomorrow
Long. Short. Blonde. Brunette. Pin-straight. Curly. Layered. Blunt. Streaked with gray. Color-treated. Thick. Thinning. Gone.
Whatever your hair type may be, you can’t deny the importance your hair plays in your life. Though that sounds so superficial at first glance, it really isn’t. We all know that looks aren’t everything, but your hair is so much a part of your personality and individuality that losing it would be traumatic. Just a week ago, I got my own hair chopped off, and I feel that pain. Here are some ideas to capture that part of yourself in your scrapbooks.
First Haircut
Of course you’ll bring the camera when your babies get their first haircut. It’s only natural. But if you forget, ask the stylist, because they sometimes keep a Polaroid camera handy just for such occasions. Some even have certificates to fill out, perfect for your baby’s baby book. This is the perfect opportunity to save a lock of hair, too, because chances are it will never be that soft or baby-fine again. To safely keep that lock of hair in your album, you can place it in a memorabilia pocket like I have done in my daughter Carmella’s “First Haircut” layout. She was three years old, so her lock of hair is much longer than most. I loved the way it curled though, and by taping two smaller envelopes together, I was able to display it and keep that curl. Her hair now at age six, by the way, is thick and straight.
 Any Haircut
If you’re like me, when you started scrapbooking, you started taking your camera to more and more places. Every trip to the beauty shop offered another opportunity for wonderful before and after shots of my little ones.  I took pictures of me too, but only for drastic cuts. Don’t you always stop flipping through the channels when Extreme Makeover catches your eye? It’s the amazement that we enjoy, seeing the difference a little snip here and a little gel there will make in transforming the most hideous person into a beauty queen. Hopefully your before picture isn’t that extreme, but feel free not to smile in that before picture and proudly show those pearly whites when you’re all fixed up and beautiful.
A Day in the Life
For most women, a huge part of their morning routine revolves around fixing their hair. For me, now that I have this short hair that just won’t go into a ponytail, I must take a shower to get rid of the dreaded BED HEAD.  (There’s a layout idea!) Then I have to put in my gel while it’s still wet, and I can’t really stop to make lunches or even fix breakfast until I run the blow dryer and curl and tease and spray my hair! If this sounds like you, enlist your spouse or one of your children to help you and take pictures of these steps that transform you into the beautiful you each and every morning. Who knows, we might giggle at all that effort years from now like my sisters and I laugh at my mom’s 1976 afro perm!
 Speaking of afro perms…
I sure hope you’ve got some old pictures like I do. I think I can put together a whole album of various pictures of my mom through the years highlighting the current (or not-so-current) trends that she went through with her hairstyles. I’m afraid I could pull out my own pictures just as easily. These stages of Farrah Fawcett feathery hair and 80’s punk rock spikes sticking out of the side of my head are all a part of me, sad as it may seem. It’s nice to be able to look back on it and smile though.
Going, Going, Gone
My husband doesn’t have quite as many old hairdo pictures to look back on. He started losing his hair early in life, and just a couple years after we were married he was completely bald on top. Now he shaves the sides, as he always has refused to try the comb-over look. When we look through our wedding album or old photos the children are astonished that Daddy used to have hair. For him, those old pictures are all that remain, and though he isn’t shy or upset about his hair loss at all, it’s still a part of who he is. Making a layout about the gradually receding hairline and the eventual acceptance of the whole “Bald is Beautiful” lifestyle would be an excellent way to pay tribute to that part of him.
Hair-edity
What I found most interesting when I first met my father-in-law was that he had the same hairline (or lack there of) as my husband. Instead of the Eddie Munster V in the middle of their foreheads, it’s more like a W with 2 little “horns,” as we like to call them. That same feature can be seen on his uncle and in pictures of his grandfather as well. This is something that certainly deserves to be immortalized in a scrapbook. Who knows, maybe our son Jack will have this same feature in the future. I’ve searched for his horns many times, and haven’t found them, but some days I’m SURE they are there just the same.
Hair Mishaps
If you have even one kid, you can probably relate to this. I think it’s a rite of passage for any parent and child to experience.  No matter how you stress the importance of only cutting paper with scissors, they will have to try it out anyway. Each of my four children took a turn. We called it a Bad Hair Day when Jack, who already had a pretty short buzz cut, took his hair down straight to his scalp and then added some extra layers into his younger sister Nora’s beautiful long hair as well. It only takes a minute, but the memory lasts a lifetime. Remember, don’t get mad, take pictures!
Whether it’s as glamorous as a professional makeover, or as innocent as a stubborn cowlick, take the time (and the pictures) to record the memory of your family’s hair. You’ll be glad you did. After all, it’s hair today, and gone tomorrow.
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