I am still loving Noah’s haircut–with the hair and the smile, he looks so much more mature and grown up. I love how he looks, but it’s kind of sad at the same time! He’s an actual adult. And he looks like one!

Someone left a comment yesterday implying that I don’t support my kids’ choices when it comes to hairstyles. Normally, I don’t pay attention to comments like that, because *I* know the truth and what do I care if someone pretends to know me and how I treat my kids?

However, it prompted me to write about it for a fun Three Things Thursday today!

I have *always* let my kids wear their hair the way they want. It’s just hair–it grows back and that’s the fun of it! Hair is fun to experiment with. Sometimes it looks great, sometimes not so much. We’ve all had hairstyles that we’ve liked and hairstyles we haven’t.

I’ve always been a mom that lets my kids be who they want to be, especially when it comes to how they look. I’ve let them cut and dye their hair, paint their nails, pierce their ears, wear whatever clothes they want… I am FAR from a mom who tries to make my kids look like someone they aren’t. (My only rule is that they cannot get a tattoo. I want them to be much older before making that very permanent decision.)

Anyway, here are three hairstyles from Jerry, the kids, and me…

ELI

Eli used to be really into his hair and I loved that. He wanted to get it cut like his favorite YouTuber one time, so I took him to do that. It turned out great!

(His ear piercings? He and I went together to the tattoo shop to get them pierced. I got one, too!)

Shortly after that, he wanted to dye it green. He was a little bummed that it wasn’t as green as he would have liked, though. When Luke came over, we bought some green hair spray and made him look like Eli. It was adorable!

Since he wanted a very bold color, I told him that I would pay for him to go to the salon where they could bleach and then color his hair (he wanted blue). We had so much fun! And he loved it. My favorite part? That Eli marches to the beat of his own drum and doesn’t do things just to fit in. He’s unique, in the best way possible.

Eli truly doesn’t care what people think. The kids at school called him “Blueberry” and “Smurf”, but he didn’t care. And funnily enough, several other people dyed their hair like that shortly after. He’s a trendsetter, that one 😉

NOAH

Noah has always been one to try to fit in with everyone else, so until about a year ago, he’s never really done anything wild with his hair. But here are a few pictures of different styles:

I was surprised that he actually had the side shaved like this, but I rather liked it! I’ve never been a big fan of boys with long hair, but hey–it’s HIS hair, not mine. (By the way, I love Claire’s hair, too.)

Noah wasn’t crazy about how his long hair was sticking up (he has two cow licks on his crown) so he asked me to show him how to straighten it. It was fun being able to show him how to do that! Did I care that his hair was down to his shoulders? Nope. He liked it, and that’s what mattered.

Most recently, he grew his hair super long and then dyed it greenish. I really liked the color of it! However, he was terrible about keeping the sides trimmed, so when he pulled his hair back into a man bun (which actually looked really good on him!), he looked like a clown–the sides stuck out all over. This isn’t just ME saying it–it became a running joke in my family. Even Noah made fun of it! 

We knew how much Noah loved his hair, so we joked about cutting it off while he was sleeping, or we’d make bets where if he lost, he’d have to cut his hair (not really). But I would never force him to cut it, nor make him feel bad for the style he chose. He’s my kid! I will never see him as anything but perfect.

When he came home yesterday with his hair cut and I was so excited, it wasn’t just the haircut–it was the SMILE ON HIS FACE. He never smiles–as evidenced in the pics–even though he has a great smile.

If you missed it, here is the before and after:

That smile makes my heart so happy!

When he wanted to see the reaction on our faces when he took off his hat, he wasn’t disappointed at all. We were SHOCKED and it made him laugh. I caught his picture while he had a very genuine smile on his face, and THAT is what I loved so much. (Although I definitely love the short hair on him–he looks so mature.)

This was right after he finally got the sides trimmed and he dyed it green-ish:

JERRY

Jerry has had his share of haircuts, too. It’s super hard to narrow them down to three! But here are a few of my favorites:

This is when I shaved steps in his head. This used to be really popular when we were in elementary school!

Oh, man, this was the worst! He bleached it for some reason, which dried it out horribly. Then it got a slight green tinge. And he refused to cut it. I’m glad that one didn’t last long 😉

WHY he did cut a mohawk like this?! I can’t remember, but wow. Actually, I probably cut it for him (at his request–I never would have chosen that, haha). But again–HIS hair.

KATIE

And finally, me. I already did a post about all my bad haircuts when I was a kid, so here are a three haircuts from later in life. This was hard to narrow down, too! There are a lot.

In high school, I used to wear my hair in small buns all over my head–probably 6-8 of them. I wish I had a picture! But this pic below is the aftermath of when I took the buns out. My hair was SO CRAZY. (Also, I used to dye it a reddish color in high school!)

This was the first and only time in my life I got highlights in my hair. My sister took me for a makeover after I’d lost 100 pounds, and we had a blast! I absolutely loved the highlights until it came time to keep up with them. I don’t like spending money on my hair, so I went back to my natural black.

I have no recollection of cutting my hair so short at this age! I think this was in 2005-ish. I really don’t like how I look with short hair and it’s too hard to maintain–I prefer to throw it into a messy bun. And even though a messy bun isn’t exactly attractive, it’s comfy and practical!

I cannot do a post about hair without sharing (once again) this video of Jerry. It’s the BEST. I don’t know how I didn’t actually die from laughing.

And here are a couple of other funny photos that show just how much I don’t care about molding the kids to what is “expected”. I have *always* let my kids pick out their own clothes for school, especially on picture day. I wanted my kids to be themselves and look how they wanted; there were kids in the class dressed in collar shirts with ties, and ruffly dresses for picture day. My kids wore whatever they wanted. and I love seeing those pictures!

This is what Eli wanted to wear to school, so I let him! What’s the harm? (And seriously, how cute is he?!)

I took him to Sears to get his pictures taken before he got his braces removed, and I told him to pick out an outfit–and this is one of my very favorite pictures of him!

This picture of Noah is AWESOME. I took him to Sears for some baby pictures and he wanted nothing to do with it. The photographer was getting frustrated, and I told her to just take the picture–I would buy it! She said she would get in trouble for not getting a better photo, and I told her it’s perfect the way it is and to just take the picture. I bought an 8×10, hung it on my wall, and got more compliments on it than any other photo. Because nobody buys pictures of their kids crying 😉

Anyway, the whole point of this post is that I absolutely adore my kids the way they are and I will always let them express their independence. Do I love Noah’s haircut? Yes. Does it make me love him more? No. I love him with my whole heart, regardless of what his hair looks like. Does he know this? Absolutely.

And the comment about making my whole year? It was about the whole package–Noah feeling excited to see Jerry’s and my reactions to his hair, his shyness about it, trying to hide his smile, but then seeing it all: the great haircut, the genuine winning smile, and the entire mood of the room. We laughed and couldn’t stop exclaiming how “adult” he looked. My kids are always first in my life and I would never say anything to make them question whether I like the way they look.