Our daughter Lyra was born in 2019 and by her first birthday, she still had shorter hair than many newborns I’ve seen. Her silky soft blonde locks took their time growing in and, as a result, she spent most of her first (and some of her second) year being mistaken for a boy. That’s why I tried to keep a headband or bow on her when we went out of the house.
Girl or Boy?
Having my daughter mistaken for a boy isn’t really that big of a deal. It doesn’t actually matter much. But I did get exhausted having to correct people every time we went to the store or stopped at the park or visited the library.
Aside from having very short hair, Lyra was also an irresistibly cute baby. So she got a lot of attention. That meant on every outing, I was hearing:
What a beautiful baby boy!
Isn’t he precious!
How old is he?
Honestly, people would say these kinds of things when she was dressed head-to-toe in pink. The only way it seemed I could convince people she was a girl without having to say anything was to put a headband on her.
The Headband Solution
I ended up with quite a collection of headbands. We had stretchy muslin bow in all sorts of colors. We had satin ribbons with curlicues, lace, and rhinestones. We had silk flowers and felt flowers. We had elastic with shimmering stripes. I tried them all.
But I had one favorite.
The Felt Meadow was looking for photos of toddlers wearing their headbands adorned with felt flowers. I reached out to the owner, Bee, and volunteered. When the headbands arrived, I was in love.
The Felt Meadow Headband
Daffodils, daisies, violets–the craftsmanship was wonderful. Lyra looked like a magical fairy. The chances of her being mistaken for a boy while wearing these floral headbands was pretty slim.
From that moment on, we’ve been getting headbands and hairclips from Bee at The Felt Meadow. They are adorable, yet durable enough for Lyra to play with them (which she often does). On top of their aesthetic allure, they’re also really affordable. I can’t say enough great things about them.
