Stacey Jean Machine

I work in a hair salon. I’m a receptionist, not a hair stylist, because I’m a confused twenty-something with a Bachelor’s degree who has no idea what to do with her life, but that’s not what I’m here to write about right now.

I want to write about this tiny little girl who came in with her mother today. The mom is a regular, and her stylist has cut the daughter’s hair plenty of times. She was likely around 5-years-old. I heard the mom tell her stylist that the little girl wanted “boy hair.” I already cringed at this point, because why does having short hair have to equate with having “boy hair”? Aren’t we passed that? I especially cringed because I am a woman with short hair.

Apparently, the little girl wanted the exact hair as her brother’s. The stylist ended up giving her shorter hair, but basically a bob that was slightly passed her chin, to try to compromise with what this little girl wanted and what the mom wanted. The girl was in tears. She was so devastated. I heard the mom say to her, “You really want your hair to look exactly like your brother’s?” to which she replied tearfully, “Yes!” 

Time didn’t allow for the stylist to re-cut her hair, not that the mom would have let her. I heard the mom jokingly refer to her daughter as “her little dyke” and make references to her being butch. I’m sure she didn’t mean it harmfully, but it still made me cringe.

When I was taking her payment, I asked if she was afraid her daughter wouldn’t like it once she had it cut that short and she said, “No, I’m afraid I won’t like it.” I’m not a parent, but I imagine this woman is probably just terrified of what others would think of her if her daughter had what she herself refers to as “boy hair.” 

We’re so fucking stupid about gender roles and what “appropriate” gender behavior is, it disgusts me. Let your fucking daughter have short hair, geez.