My 7 year old daughter, Iris, started brushing her own hair now. The other day she came out and asked me to help her, stating, “I have too many CRINKLES in my hair.” We started laughing and she brought up the days of CRINKLES! I had almost forgotten about those days and couldn’t believe she remembered.
Back when she was 3 years old, she had snarly hair and screamed and whined when I brushed it, much like many little girls with long hair, including myself. My mom struggled with me as a child, combing my unruly hair. After years of frustration and lack of cooperation on my part she finally gave me the Dorothy Hamill haircut. Many girls my age know about this style of haircut because like me they fell victim to their mother’s years of frustration and got all their hair cut off too!
Me in Kindergarten
Me in 1st Grade
The CRINKLES Iris was referring to was a sort of game I came up with when she was 3. When I would go to brush her hair in the morning I would begin by examining her head. Next I would act shocked, surprised, and put my hand over my mouth. She would ask what the matter was and I would tell her the Grinch (yes, from Dr. Suess’s The Grinch Who Stole Christmas) must have sneaked in her room at night and put candy all throughout her hair! The Grinch was the only character I could come up with that I knew she knew and that would possibly sneak into a child’s room and do such a preposterous act!
I would begin by combing her hair and if I found a tiny knot I would say “I’ve found a little crinkle!” (I quit calling them snarls because they had such a bad connotation at this point.) If I found a BIG knot I would say, “Oh my goodness, I’ve found a Tootsie Roll in your hair.” I would work on the knot and when it was all out I would hand her an imaginary Tootsie Roll and we would both pretend to take bites of it and laugh! We would find several more pieces of candy in her hair and have us a smorgasbord early in the morning!
This system worked well! It got to the point where she actually looked forward to getting her hair brushed every morning and hoped there was snarls (I mean CANDY) stuck in her hair!
Iris
Now, if you were hoping to get some advice on getting real candy or gum out of your child’s hair you’ll have to keep searching. That has happened to us a couple of times and I just cut it out. Hair grows back! I only mess with the imaginary stuff!
Motherhood Is An Art 