Hair

Tiger's cut her own hair. Dig was in charge, while I went off to Tesco. In mitigation, he was doing his usually frantic last half-hour pack to get to the airport. So paying attention to children probably wasn't high on his agenda.

Mind, he didn't notice last time either, when I was out doing the charity shops on a Saturday afternoon. Then he was supposed to be with them all day long for some daddy-daughter time. He'd crept back into the office. Tiger, at a loose end, and with a pair of scissors in her hand, went and did something about an annoying lock of hair. Well, several locks, actually. And mostly on one side of her head.

I was quite calm that time, when I walked in and was greeted by someone with tufts of hair sticking out over their left ear. I was sort of expecting it. Shark had cut her hair just the week before, and that time I handled it badly. I was walking into the kitchen with a pile of laundry when I saw Shark's hair. I screamed, dropped all the laundry and shouted 'Oh my God! What have you done!' I couldn't help it, it was awful. Bits were sticking up all over her head where she'd grabbed chunks of hair and hacked them off. Of course it was just the wrong thing to say too. Shark's face crumpled in dismay and then everyone burst into tears. So I had to backtrack and make a big thing about how difficult it is to cut your own hair and let's go down to the market square and find out why hairdressers exist.

So Tiger now has a very short fringe. Extremely short. I've tried to even it out a bit, but it's hard, when the hair is about 3mm from where it grows. I've been looking at it a lot, and I've persuaded myself it looks quite edgy, and suits her personality. It's the contrast between the bit which says 'mess with me and you'll be sorry' and the long curly locks on either side of her face. If I stare at it any longer, I might just be tempted to give myself this trendy look. Modern, geometric, low maintenance. Starting to sound ideal. And Tiger's delighted with it. So I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt and remembering that even Vidal Sassoon had to start somewhere.