For One Brief Shining Moment

For one brief shining moment I was "The Most Fun Grandma Ever" … and then the paint wouldn’t come out of their hair.

Left to Right: Friend, Grandchildren: Jonathan (7) Lilly (3) Josoph (9)

I went and spent several days with my grandchildren. One day we decided to do body painting. I went to Walmart and bought inexpensive, water based acrylic paints. The plan was to start with the oldest kids first, paint everyone quickly, take pictures and then get everyone washed off.

We let the kids choose their colors and patterns. My daughter Melissa and I worked together to paint the kids. It was a blast! The kids had so much fun telling us how to paint them and posing for pictures. By the time we were done with pictures, the paint had begun to crack and peel off the skin of the kids first painted.

Unfortunately, when my grandson Josoph (first painted, first in the shower) went to wash off, we discovered that acrylic paint, once it has dried in the hair, is NOT water soluble.

This is when “The Most Fun Grandma Ever” fell from grace. (Note to self: Buy some wacky wigs and spray on hair color to use the next time I do any body painting.)

I placed an emergency call to a girlfriend and had her do a Google search for how to remove acrylic paint from the hair. When she stopped laughing at me, she told me that the two methods mentioned were to use rubbing alcohol or vodka. How about rubbing alcohol for the hair and vodka to drink while I scrub and hope and pray that it works?

The little girl with the purple face and pink hair had a party to attend the next day with her extended family. Her hair is thick and naturally curly. Let’s just say that her mom wasn’t real happy with me. I removed a lot with rubbing alcohol and then her mom took a brush to her hair to get the rest out.

The boys weren’t so bad, because their hair is short. Lilly, however, was a whole different story. Her hair is long and baby fine. After working on it off and on for a day, I gave up and called a hair salon and asked if they would help. I went in armed with a gallon of vodka (less smelly than the rubbing alcohol, but also less effective) and several bottles of rubbing alcohol. I gratefully paid the patient beautician $20 to help me get the paint out of Lilly’s hair. She was able to be more aggressive in her scrubbing than grandma. Lilly was really a champ! I kept getting her to take deep breaths to stay calm when the process threatened to get overwhelming. Finally, the paint was (mostly) gone from her hair.

Hopefully, when my grandkids look at the pictures, they will not remember the trauma of paint trapped in their hair, but their summer moment with The Most Fun Grandma Ever.