Tales from the Steppes

2005-06-24

3:13 p.m.
Do you remember lying in bed with the covers pulled up over your head?

Today is Crazy Hair Day at summer camp. The mongols were all excited about putting stuff in their hair and got up easily this morning. I had gone out last night to see if I could buy some temporary dye, as the male mongols enjoy turning their hair blue - this is one of the advantages of having blonde hair. No dice.

I did not leave for work on time this morning so I could handle the hair dressing duties. I learned a long time ago that the SU is not good with the mongols hair and certainly not mine, probably due to lack of recent folicle experience.

Ok, that was a cheap shot.

But true.

Anyway, the MM was first up and things went very smoothly. A handful of hair wax, a little mussing around, and we had a pseudo-mohawk. No big deal.

I learned a long time ago that "Crazy" or "Wacky" hair days require extra-strength styling products. No mere mousse or hairspray will cut it. It probably has something to do with the quantity of hair on each child's head. All three of them have very thick hair so I keep a set of "product" for just these occasions. I think it is kind of funny in a way because I don't use stuff in my hair at all. Wash it, condition it, deep condition when I remember it and have some time to kill, run a brush through it every day, that's it.

I must have grown out of the hair fussing thing at some point because I can certainly remember doing stupid stuff when I was younger. How can I ever forget using temporary dye to attempt to dye my hair black for a costume party? What a bad idea that was. Not only did it look like crap but I had to use a stripper to get it out. And then there was that foul henna stuff the Squotter and I mixed up, painted our hair with and then wrapped the mess in a plastic bag. I don't recall that it did anything more than mess up a shower. I guess this was just a phase of life that many of us grow out of. I will have to say that occasionally I look in the mirror and think that maybe I should actually do something to my hair, have it styled, trimmed, whatever, but the moment passes without me actually acting on my whim.

But I digress.

Next up was the YM, who was extremely distraught that I had not found any funky colors to put in his hair. So he wanted to use markers to color his hair.

Good thinking. But no.

As I started to try to run a brush through his hair, I discovered that the shaving cream from yesterdays shaving cream battle had not gotten fully washed out when the kids were hosed off. There was no way to actually get a brush through his hair. So I though I would just apply stuff and try to make his curls stand up off his head. Seems wacky to me. But they would not stand up because his hair is actually fairly long, so the curls are weighty. When his hair is wet, he looks like he has a bad Jheri Curl hanging down his back. My attempt at a hair-do was unacceptable in the YM's eyes. So he did it himself. This largely involved pulling hair straight down over his face and plastering it with goo.

Fine. Whatever. No playing near a cliff.

Finally I had to deal with the EM. Her hair was also thickened with shaving cream, making the mass inpenetrable by normal means. I had to explain to her that there was no product on the planet that would make her hair stand up. It is just too long and thick. I guess I could have tried fabric stiffener but somehow I don't think she would have appreciated that effort. So I put it in two high pony tails and left it at that.

Yeah, I know. Pretty lame. But it is Friday and I am headed out of here in just a few minutes to go start preparations for tacos and margaritas to celebrate my entry into geezerhood. Any excuse will do for a frozen drink.