Hair Do's and Don'ts

Dear Gabrielle,

You have beautiful, gorgeous hair. It isn't as dark as mine and is much more fine, but it is still very pretty. You are extremely obsessed with your hair at your current age. I'm hoping it is a phase. I often hear, "my hair is ugly" or right when you wake up, "Mommy! My hair is so messy!" through tears and whines. You are a girl who likes to have your hair "done." Here are a few things that are not an option to you:
1. Static. If you sense static in your hair, you rush upstairs to wet it down.
2. Fly-aways. We all have them, but you point all of them out after I put your hair in a ponytail to make sure I hairspray them all down.
3. Pigtails. You may have worn them almost daily for about a year, but you are not interested in them anymore and it breaks my heart since you are still a little girl. Little girls are supposed to wear pigtails, darnit!
4. Any fancy hairdo. You enjoyed your hair for Halloween, but you will NOT let me do anything that is remotely fancy or out of the norm. Seems strange since you love your hair so much, but you must love it only in certain styles.

Here are a few things you love:
1. Hairspray. You remind me all the time to make sure I "spray it" when I'm done.
2. Headbands. You could wear them all day everyday, even though you often don't even put them on correctly enough to hold your hair back. They are a "head accessory" of some sort to you.
3. Hairbows with ponytails. You don't care for bows when your hair is down, but any ponytail deserves a good bow. You also like picking them out for yourself and MOST of the time, they don't match your outfit. I don't care. I like that you want to choose them for yourself.
4. Ponytails. I think you must see my hair in a ponytail way too often, as it is your go-to hairdo of choice.
5. Curling and flat irons. Whenever I am doing my hair, you often ask for me to do yours too. It's very sweet. I think you just want to be like me and that makes me smile.

I love you and your hair obsession all the same.

Love,
Mommy

*For a girl who does not enjoy fancy hairstyles, I was amazed when Gabby let me put this braid in her hair a few weeks ago. It's just too cute, isn't it? She even let me do two french braids later that day. She must have been feeling open since I haven't convinced her into anything except a ponytail in about a month. Hmpf. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but to a mom who wants her little girl to look "little" for awhile longer, it might be worth a bribe to see my little sweetie in pigtails just one more time.