Yesterday was Jo’s first performance with her skating team (I also wrote about this, briefly, over at the fitness site). Since she hasn’t taken dance since she was about three, I was/am totally unfamiliar with everything that goes into primping for this kind of performance.
Luckily I received a helpful email reminding me to buy/bring (and I quote):
- Brush
- Ponytail holders (5-6)
- Hairnets
- Hair gel
- Hair spray
- Hair clips the color of your child’s hair…bobby pins are not allowed
This scared me, a little. I also exchanged multiple phone calls and texts with another parent as we both tried to source the right kind and color of hairnets. We showed up yesterday with our little cosmetics bag full of this stuff and I wrestled my kid’s hair into a lame, sad-looking bun on the back of her head. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Then I got schooled in how to do it right (Maggie is going to love this…)
1. Glop up your child’s hair with a whole bunch of gel.
2. Brush the gel through her hair to create a very sleek, very smooth, very very high ponytail; secure with a hair elastic.
3. Thread the pony through a hair donut (it looks exactly like a mesh dish scrubber, in the shape of a doughnut).
4. Fan the hair from the pony over the donut to cover it. Spray the hell out of it with hair spray.
5. Place a hairnet (same color as the child’s hair! Please!) over the bun. Secure that with another elastic. The ends of the pony will still be sticking out all over in an alarming way.
6. Wrap those ends around the bun, tucking them in as you go.
7. Now put a (color-coordinated, natch) scrunchie around the bottom of the bun.
8. Spray it again. Also again. And a few more times for good measure.
Done! So easy!
That, plus makeup application and last-minute costume decisions, took only about 90 minutes of pre-show time. No wonder we had to show up three hours early! In the end, though, they looked totally cute and did a lovely job with their routine (in spite of Jo’s gasp of “We’re not ready!!” just a few days before, and the fact that a new girl joined the team on…Friday. For a Sunday show).
Next stop, a real competition with over eighty other teams. Eighty!
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Would it be too much to ask for a picture of the completed hairdo? I want to see this!
This is why, when I was in gymnastics, I had very short hair — just like Dorothy Hammil!
Wow! In January, I’m going to have to put up my hair (mid-century Victorian-style) for the first time since I cut it relatively short. Maybe some hair donuts will do the job.
Pictures, please!
OMG. I am staying far far away from that sport.
Can you do this to my hair the next time you are in town?
What the heck is a hair clip? All I can picture is a bobby pin….
I’m impressed at all of your newfound skills.
This is why God gave me boys. Who don’t dance.
Years ago a friend’s daughter stayed with us for the weekend and when we were about to leave for church she just kept standing there looking at me. Finally she said, “Mrs. M, you have to DO my hair.” Ah. Right!
ok, i clicked through from your recent post that enticed me with a link on the word “bun”. My daughter is only 3, but her hair is thick and shoulder length. She started ballet today. I actually have a whole theory about [imperfect parenting and why I have decent self-esteem] for which all my evidence is little girls hairdos.
When I realized that I don’t know how to do my daughter’s hair in a bun, I thought, “But of course there are tutorials on the Internet for this topic.” I have not yet sought them out, because my lame-ass bun is good enough for Berkeley YMCA Pre-Ballet. And why do better, raise the bar, and give the other moms a complex?
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