Mommy Finally Makes the Cut

After 36 years with the same frumpy bob, Mommy finally has a new ‘do.

Today, comics readers get their first look at the make-over of the character in the popular comic strip “Family Circus.” The author of the strip, Bil Keane of Paradise Valley, Ariz., apparently decided to update her hair after a reader complained that the pointy chin-length cut Mommy has had since the feature’s debut in 1960 was old-fashioned.

So on Monday, she went to the hairdresser; Tuesday the kids were wondering how she’d look; and today a sleeker Mommy appears on Page E11 and, thank goodness, the kids approve.

But what do the professionals think? Here, stylists from some popular salons on both coasts critique the new cut.

Jose Eber, Los Angeles-based founder of an eponymous chain of hair salons: “It’s a step toward the ‘90s. . . . But I would have made it sexier--less severe, wispier around the neckline and cheekbones, more uncoiffed looking. Moms can be sexy in real life. But I don’t think that’s what they want to project in a cartoon. For what it is, it’s a great choice.”

Andre Taverise of the Spot, a trendy salon on New York’s Madison Avenue that caters to show people from Broadway to Hollywood: “I think [the look] is very, very new. It’s sassy. I love the height on the crown. I even love her new sweater. Those little kids of hers are probably very critical. And now she looks right to the minute. I think psychologically women who have kids that age want to stay on the cutting edge. Many women when they were single and dating were fanatics about their hair. . . . Now they have children and they say, ‘Make me over.’ ”

Paul Vacca of Astor Place, a hip Manhattan shop where walk-ins pay $12 for a wash and cut: “I think the haircut is fitting for a middle-aged mother. . . . But if she decided she wanted something more up-style we might be able to do that: Maybe show her forehead. . . . If she’s going away for summer I’d make it somewhat spiky on top for the beach and then she could blow it back at night.”

Kim Lepine, who operates an eponymous salon on Madison Avenue: “I think Mommy looks great! I think mothers in general should be updated. I guess it could have been better, with more of an edge of trendiness. In the front it looks like a blob of thick hair. I would have made it softer on her forehead, less of a heavy clump of hair.”