Uncurly Hair

My four-year-old niece is taking dance lessons and her first recital is coming up next month. Curly hair is apparently a recital requirement, so my sister thought it best if she experimented now to find out the best way to curl her hair and make sure it was going to turn out nicely.

So Saturday night, Little Girl wore sponge curlers to bed, and Sunday morning, when the curlers came out, and her hair was combed and bows added, my sister reported that she was simply too beautiful for words. Eagerly, Little Girl looked in the mirror to see her beautiful self -- and burst into tears.

"What on earth is wrong?" my sister asked, and Little Girl answered, "Everybody will laugh at me!"

My sister tried and tried to convince her that everyone would think she was beautiful. Little Girl's response was to say that she looked like the Beast when he was all fixed up to go to dinner with Belle and his fur was in curls and bows, and they said, "You look..." and he muttered, "Stupid!"

She was so upset that my sister offered to put her hair in a ponytail. Little Girl agreed, and my sister said the curly ponytail was still adorably cute. However, when Little Girl looked in the mirror, she again burst into tears, saying she was still curly, and she wanted to be uncurly!!

My sister told her that everyone at church would tell her how pretty her curls were, but she was not convinced. And so it was a very sad Little Girl that went off to church Sunday morning. Of course, everyone told her that her curls were beautiful, and after the fourth or fifth compliment, Little Girl became quite uppity about her new hairstyle.

Apparently, compliments aren't enough to make up for one's own assessment, however, because when she went to bed last night, she asked, "Is my hair gonna be uncurly tomorrow? I like it better uncurly."

Shirley Temple she will never be... :)