Chapter 5 - WHY JANICE WANTED THE CURLS
Janice had been losing her hair for almost two years.
Not enough for most people to notice.
Enough for her to notice every morning.
A form of alopecia had created widening areas near the crown and temples. Extensions covered some of it. Concealers covered more.
Eric knew she had “thinning.”
He did not know the emotional scale.
Janice’s identity had been built around hair since adolescence.
She was the beautiful stylist.
The woman clients trusted with wedding mornings.
The person who knew texture, shine, color, density.
She photographed herself constantly for salon marketing.
When her own hair began thinning, she panicked.
That part was human.
What followed was not.
Amber explained that Janice began experimenting with custom hair toppers and partial wigs. High-grade untreated blond hair was expensive, especially fine natural hair that blended with Janice’s coloring.
Adult donor hair worked.
Child hair was softer.
Harder to source ethically.
And valuable.
Rebecca interrupted when Amber said valuable.
“How valuable?”
A custom piece using premium untreated hair could cost thousands.
But Janice was not selling Alison’s hair.
At least not this time.
She was building one for herself.
That explained:
“She gave it to me. I needed it more than she did.”
Megan sat frozen.
“She took my daughter’s hair because she wanted a wig.”
Eric covered his face.
Amber continued.
Janice had ordered a custom topper through a specialty manufacturer. She apparently planned to supply the hair herself.
The requested amount was greater than one child’s haircut.
That was where Sophie became important.
Janice had likely saved or redirected Sophie’s hair first.
But something happened to it.
Either it was insufficient, unsuitable, or already used elsewhere.
So Janice needed more.
Alison’s curls matched.
Megan stood up abruptly.
Rebecca caught her wrist.
“Sit.”
“That woman manipulated a five-year-old because she wanted hair.”
“Yes.”
“And she told her Eric would come home if she gave it up.”
“We need to establish exactly what was said.”
“I know what my child said.”
“I believe her. Legal processes still require care.”
Megan hated the distinction.
Accepted it anyway.
Alison met with a trained child interviewer two days later.
Megan did not sit in the room.
Neither did Eric.
That mattered.
The interviewer used open questions.
Alison’s account came in child-sized fragments.
Janice was sad because her hair was “going away.”
Janice showed Alison a bald spot.
Janice said Daddy was always gone because “everyone in the house makes things harder.”
Then said Alison could “help make Janice pretty again.”
Alison refused initially.
She liked her curls.
Janice told her:
“Daddy likes when we help each other.”
Then later:
“If you give me your curls, maybe Daddy won’t have to stay away for work so much.”
In Alison’s mind, the bargain simplified.
Hair for Dad.
Then, that morning, Janice sat her on a bathroom stool.
She tied the hair in several sections.
Alison started crying when the first cut was made.
Janice told her:
“Don’t be selfish now. It grows back.”
Then cut the rest.
No physical injury.
No restraint.
Which would cause some people later to minimize it.
Megan never did.
Coercion does not need bruises to change the meaning of yes.
Afterward Janice made Alison promise not to “make Daddy mad” by crying when Megan arrived.
Then she bagged the hair.
That detail finally broke Eric.
He sat outside the interview center in his truck and cried for almost twenty minutes.
Megan sat in her own car across the parking lot.
She did not comfort him.
May you like
Not because she lacked compassion.
Because Alison needed every ounce of it first.
