It happens to everyone. The first time. It’s a milestone and in Kongo’s troop this event is a family affair. We’re talking about granddaughter’s first haircut. Mrs. Kongo is quite keen on staging these family milestones and she arranged an appointment with Maria at the wonderfully funky Classic Kids Hairstyling Salon in Camarillo to mark this memorable rite of passage.
Granddaughter #3, Persephone, and her parents visited Kongo over the holidays. Escaping double-bomb cold on the East Coast they relaxed for nearly three weeks here in sunny Southern California. At the age of three Persephone was in need of her first salon visit and Mrs. Kongo was for sure going to make that happen. Frankly, Kongo was surprised she didn’t set up a full spa day with manicures and pedicures to go along with the hair styling. Save that thought for the next visit.
At first, Persephone wanted nothing to do with getting styled. “No. no. NO! I don’t want my hair cut.” Even when tempted with tacos at a favorite nearby Mexican restaurant she responded with “I don’t want to eat out. I want to go home now!” But mothers (and grandmothers) know best about these things and they just said, “Oh, Persephone, you will love it. You’ll see!” The look above at the start of the adventure tells the story. Persephone is not at all sure what she’s getting in to but Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Papa were on hand to prevent a dash for the door and to offer encouragement!
Smart Mrs. Kongo set the stage perfectly for this event. Maria, the hair maestro has a fantastic shop that any child would love. It’s set up like a movie theater with all the accessories. Persephone hopped right up into a look-alike New York taxi and allowed herself to be groomed while Mom and Grandmother hovered nearby. Maria has a wonderful way with young children. This is her specialty after all and she’s a pro. She also knows a lot about hair and she pointed out the baby hair that was going to get trimmed and replaced by first grade hair in a few years, followed by another hair burst at puberty, with a final mane coming in as a young adult. Who knew?
And then came the kicker. “Oh my goodness!” Maria exclaimed. “She has two whorls. Maybe three! Gosh. Is she a genius?”
Well, as any grandparent will eagerly tell you about their progeny, OF COURSE SHE IS A GENIUS. Both her parents have PhD’s, she reads at a lexile level above 300 (she’s 3!), and can name all the planets, their moons, and orbital mechanics (just kidding about the orbital details). She’s a genius all right and we haven’t even talked about dinosaurs. Now there’s proof. Actually Kongo looked up the bit about hair whorls (cowlicks) and it turns out there’s a mixed bag of stories about it. Some definitely say it’s a mark of genius. Others are not so sure. Double whorl kids are said to have a strong temperament and Persephone certainly has that one in spades. In any event she’s a smart little girl and everyone is proud of her abilities.
So Persephone went from doubt, to this isn’t so bad after all, to hey, I like this haircut stuff. Bangs are cool!
She also got color streaks and glitter and and a dinosaur called Allosaurus who was a fierce (her words) bi-pedal predator that should fit in nicely with the rest of her collection . What more could a genius 3-year old little girl want?
Persephone checks herself out after the do. This little one already knows her way around a mirror.
So, forgive the grandparenty bragging please. If you’ve got a little one like this in your monkey troop make sure you bring a camera and make this a special event. If you are lucky enough to live in Southern California, you need to scoot on up to Camarillo and visit Maria at her shop. Details are in the link in the first paragraph. You’re going to love Maria! Honest.
Travel safe. Have fun.