The Hair, Again

So, there's been a lot of water cooler talk about E's whiffle.  Was it medical?  Did she have lice, or did she get a transfusion that way?  Is it cultural, and just something that we are not familiar with in the US?  Or is it just because it's so freakin' hot in the south of China that I'd be shaving my head, too?  Whatever it is, the consensus is that's she's the most adorable thing ever with or without hair, but people still talk about her new 'do.

I had the chance to chat up a lovely Vietnamese woman the other day.  Yes, this was at a nail salon getting a pedicure before our vacation-so what?  I asked her to paint a flower on my big toe and next thing I know my toe had become a canvas for something that could be in the Sistine Chapel.  She is one talented lady...email me if you need a manicure in MA.  Anyways, I'm way off topic here.

We got on the topic of the adoption, and I showed her our pictures.  She said, "Oh!  That's so good they shaved her head!  Aren't you happy?"  Um, no, "happy" was not what I had been thinking.  So I asked her if they did it because it's so hot there.  "Yes, maybe because it's hot but probably so her hair will grow in nice and thick!  It's good-now you won't have to shave it when you bring her home," she tells me.  I actually was not planning on shaving E's head to give her better hair when she got home, but whatever.

Then she went on to explain that some Asians shave their children's eyebrows as well so that they will grow nicely.  She pointed out how lovely hers are (and she really did have great brows).  She then cautioned me not to go home and shave mine, as I'm too old for that and they won't grow in.  Again, I was not considering running home to shave 'em off, but OK.

Finally, she shared the most amazing piece of information about her culture and this thing about cutting hair so that it will grow.  She said that when babies are newborns, some parents creep into their cribs as they sleep, and snip their eyelashes so that the lashes will grow nice and long.  "I did my son's, my husband did my daughter's."  Now, I will say that she did a mighty fine manicure, and she did paint that mural on my toe, but you gotta have some pretty steady hands to trim a sleeping baby's eyelashes!

So, whatever the reason that E is sporting her new crop, it's OK with us.  We are just hoping that her foster mama has hands as steady as a surgeon's.