My Daughter Just Had Her Hair Cut off and She's Upset. What Should I Do?

Tell her she looks beautiful. Tell her she's got fabulous hair. Tell her it will grow back. Tell her you love her.
Am I missing something?

How old is she?
Why did she go back and cut an extra 4" off?

Bottom line... it grows back and she should know that.

Its hair. It'll grow back. There's nothing you can do until that happens unless you want to go every shorter. Please set a good example for your daughter by not being stupidly upset over something as minor as a bad haircut.

I don't understand the problem. I wear a short layered bob and I can either A. put it back on the sides with barrettes, put it in pigtails, or one stubby ponytalk. Headbands would also work to hold the hair back from her face.

And in chorus, everyone-- tell her it's hair, it will grow back! ;)

Tell her it will grow back

There's nothing you can do with a short haircut except wait it out. You teach her not to panic over something like hair, you re-think statements like "you desperately need your hair cut" (because it's just not desperate!) and you re-think a hairdresser who cuts off too much without preparing the kid.

Remind her that it will grow back. There's not much else she can do.

I do like the flat iron idea. Maybe she'll like having her hair straight once in awhile.

I don't quite get the extra 4 inches off - who did that, your daughter or her aunt? (and why?).

Anyhow - it will grow back. Not sure what you mean by what shall I do? What other options do you have? I straight iron mine sometimes when it's first cut if I feel it needs to grow out a bit. Hats, scarves ..

Aw! How old is she? If she can understand, remind her that her hair will grow long again. Point out that the parts removed were damaged and looked bad, but she has an opportunity to take care of her hair so that it looks great as it grows. If something she does was damaging it before, tell her to not do that thing.

As someone with long, naturally wavy hair that can get unruly, I can tell you that heat tools like irons and blow dryers should not be used regularly if the goal is healthy long hair. The type of cut is of utmost importance. A straight across cut is almost never going to work with waves or curls. If her hair looks crazy/huge, then she may need to go even shorter (a little bit!) by having a curly-hair specialist tidy up what the aunt did.

Tell her hair grows fast and to not worry about it. If it is too short you simply have to wait for it to grow to put it up. I have curly hair and I cannot tell you the number of times hair dressers have cut it way too short. It happens all the time...you have to find someone who is a curly hair expert. Use little clips to put it back...they work great. The ones I like look like small claws that open and shut. They make them in cute colors like sparkly pink for little girls.

Depending how old she is, can you use a flat iron on it maybe for a few days until she gets over the shock of it being too short?

It will grow back. Does she like hats? Hats have always been my go to when I've had a bad hair cut. Maybe I'd have someone else cut your daughter's hair next time.

She cut off 7 inches of her hair? That's a LOT and if she didn't really want that much off then she's not going to be happy with it until it's grown back out.

If it's a long enough bob then she should be able to pull it back into a low ponytail. A short stubby one but still a ponytail at the nape of her neck.

Yesterday her aunt cut her hair and then today your daughter cut off more (or did the aunt do that too)?
Hair will grow back.
You tell her she looks great and shorter hair is so much easier to care for.
What ever she was doing to her hair that created all that damage - she needs to stop doing that so her hair continues to 'be healthy' as it grows out.

I have curly hair. After I get a haircut I often flat iron it for a week or two just to get over the initial "shock" of it being shorter. After a couple of weeks of wearing it straight my curls have usually "relaxed" enough that it doesn't curl up so short anymore.

I am confused as to why she got two haircuts in two days, and why does she need to put it up? I feel fortunate to have curly hair and never need to put it up because I have the curls.

I would ask a local hairdresser what conditioner is recommended to smooth the curls out.

And I sympathize with you and your daughter. The same thing happened in my family. It's amazing how short newly cut curly hair becomes, as the weight of the longer hair is removed.

I had the same issue, when I was a teen. It was the result of a botched haircut where the hairdresser took too much off one side, then too much off the other, and back and forth, until I ended up with hair that barely touched my shoulders. I cried. I had never had short hair, and to me, that was like a pixie cut, as I have always had practically waist-length hair. I ended up with a rice bowl-type of Beatles haircut, and had braces, to make matters worse. I felt I looked horrible, when my intention was to get a cute layered cut for my yearbook photos.

I found some cute barrettes with rhinestone flowers, some metallic fluttery-winged butterfly barrettes, and relied on headbands, as well as patience, during this period. They also sell hair extensions, where you can add hair to a ponytail and make it look long again. I bet she isn't the first or last girl in class with short hair. My daughter had to get her hair cut due to awful bird's nest tangles, which were impossible to detangle. She was upset at first, but then she said she liked having shoulder-length hair because it was so much easier to brush through, she could brush it herself, and no longer be screaming in pain when her aunt or grandmother tried styling her hair. That's another point you can make in talking to her about it -- it will make brushing less time-consuming and less painful.

I'm not sure how old your daughter is. Curly hair seems to grow very slow.

Sounds like the hair is now healthy (according to the aunt), yet doesn't look good (according to your daughter's reaction). You may need to buy barrettes and bobby pins. I would think twice about using the aunt again if she is not skilled with curly hair.

Some people are blessed with silky smooth hair and others have fried looking hair. It could be part diet and part heredity. it could also be baby fine hair that needed to be cleaned up depending on her age.