peely head

Have you ever had peely head? It's that one spot where you can't put the sunscreen, the part in your hair. For me it's this spot where my bangs meet the rest of my hair. Well, I suppose you can put sunscreen there, but what a yucky, greasy mess. So, a few hours in the sun, and I have peely head.

I started calling it that when my twin boys were 10. They were heading to cub scout camp. Their father thought it would be a good idea to cut their hair himself. Wrong! They are thick-haired, curly-topped red heads. And their father thought that shears with an extender would be perfect. After one slip of the shears, the extender fell off, and there was a strip of bald head. Twin 2 comes running into the house, "Mommy, Mommy, I don't want to be bald!" Before I knew what was happening, Twin 1 was nearly bald. Then there was a moment when I looked at these identical boys who no longer looked identical. Their foreheads were stuck together, deep in thought. They often problem-solved in this pseudo-conjoined position. Twin 2 emerged and said that he wanted to look like Twin 1. Cutest thing EVER!

Coming home from camp with burned heads, their skin peeled and peeled. I know it sounds disgusting, but I had to actually peel the skin off of their bald heads. Affectionately, and with much laughter about their father's one attempt at being the barber, we used the phrase that still makes us crack up-- peely head.