Dear nannies,
When we received updated pictures of the little girl in your care who was about to formally become our daughter, we were disappointed to see that you had shaved her head. The pictures of her at about 10 months old that we saw right as we sent in our letter of intent to adopt her had the sweetest little wisps of hair coming in.
Then, about a month later, you sent us new pictures and her head was completely bare.
As a perhaps typical American mama, I was a little sad to see my soon-to-be daughter with no hair since I had many hair accessories that I was excited to see on that pretty head. But, I understand that there are several reasons you had for shaving her head. Some of those reasons are practical; others are traditional. I learned that many traditional Chinese shave the heads of their babies because they believe the hair then grows in thicker and more beautiful. I did not believe this myself. I had never heard of it before and did not believe it had any scientific merit.
Well, I just wanted to write to you now and include a current picture of our daughter who we named Lydia to tell you that perhaps there is truth to that belief after all.
Sincerely,
Mei Yue’s American parents
