(PS – this is not the Slipknot mask)
What Happened
My eight-year-old son is like many other young boys: he wants to do things that only older kids get to do. What he wants to do right now is emulate his big brother, who joined the navy eight months ago. Well, his big brother was a Slipknot fan (the heavy metal band who wear the weird masks). Although he’s not allowed to listen to their music (way too graphic for an eight-year-old), he still likes to look at pictures of their masks.
During his most recent internet Slipknot mask search, he came across step-by step directions to make one of the masks, and wouldn’t you know it – it was his favorite! He very sweetly asked me if we had the supplies necessary to make it, and if so, could he make it himself. Because he’d been truly disappointed when I told him he couldn’t listen to Slipknot music, I decided that, even though plaster of paris is a God-awful mess to deal with, he could experiment with making the mask as long as he’d clean it up.
The directions instructed him to put a stocking over his head, and have someone cover his entire head (except for eyes, nose, and mouth) with the plaster of paris, and then remove the whole thing. He recruited his sister for the sculptor’s job (brave boy).
Yes, I know what you’re thinking – I should have been smart enough to know that there were some flaws in these directions.
The Problem
Well, not only did the plaster dry before the mask was even fully formed, but there were no directions about how to get the stupid thing off your head without cracking it to pieces. The boy looked like a burglar who’d broken into a plaster factory and lost his balance. But that wasn’t even the worst part…
Yes, unfortunately you guessed it – the plaster had penetrated the stocking and had adhered itself to my boy’s face, ears, and headful of hair.
OH CRAP!!!
The Solution
Well, there wasn’t really a solution, other than just peeling the damn thing off my boy’s head. And yes, you guess correctly – it was very painful for him. I think it probably took off most of his facial hair – I’m just glad it didn’t rip out his eyebrows or the hair on his head. He wailed and cried as I pulled and peeled and tugged. Finally, I was able to get most of it off – except for the plaster which had stubbornly adhered itself to his sideburns. That stuff WOULD NOT come off. I told him to take a shower and maybe it would dissolve, or he could scrape it off.
No such luck!
His dad had to shave his sideburns off with a hair trimmer.
What We Learned
Well, as I sat at the dinner table, and looked at my little boy, with his little red face, I asked him if he scrolled through all of the directions? Did it have a joke at the end that read,
Ha Ha moron – you can’t get the thing off your face, can you??
He couldn’t help but smile at that one. I told him that a lot of women pay a lot of money for a chemical peel, and he got one for free! (he didn’t really get that joke).
We learned that not everything you find on the internet is true, or sound, or successful. (DUUUHHHH!!!!) We are expected to use our common sense before relying on what we find.
I think my creative little boy will be satisfied with just looking at the masks for a while.
station Drinking and Driving can cause.
What can be said about a brother’s love and admiration…
