OP, I don’t think you have a problem and I certainly wouldn’t force hairstyles on the kids.

They dont care that their best friends and close relatives (and I assume teachers) can't tell them apart?

Get them different hairstyles.

Your girls are fine. They will correct people when they want to. My boys are 4 yrs apart and have a 70 lb weight difference. They can choose if they want to correct relatives who get their names mixed up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.

Don't force your dds to get different haircuts. The color shirts was enough.

And they aren't being rude! (some people here are high strung, wow)

My twin girls correct people every single time someone calls them the wrong name. They're five and a half. I have always tried really hard to make sure people know which one is which (usually by differentiating clothes, like you do). I would ask them why they don't correct them.

How about get them watches or special bracelets in different colors? Or have one always wear it on the left, and one on the right?

Meh, my sister and I are a year apart and look a lot alike, and people mixed us up all the time. It was really no big deal.

You did good with the blue and the purple. Family should be able to handle that. If you catch them lying call them out- all of them. Grandma! Karla is messing with you and pretending to be Karlette! Karla is wearing purple remember? Light shame for the family member and light shame for the kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you insist that family and friends get the names right?

In a large family / friend situation -- I think by answering to either name they are just being polite.

+1 Your girls are being polite.

There is nothing polite about pretending to be someone else. It's polite to just say "I'm Susan".

Have you never met twins?

Right?!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you insist that family and friends get the names right?

In a large family / friend situation -- I think by answering to either name they are just being polite.

+1 Your girls are being polite.

There is nothing polite about pretending to be someone else. It's polite to just say "I'm Susan".

Have you never met twins?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cut their hair differently.

Yes. Differentiate their appearance somehow. They're getting old enough that this is weird.

We can't. They like having matching hair. Neither wants bangs. Neither wants layers or different lengths. We will do a ponytail on one and pigtail braids on another, or a lavender scrunchie for one and blue for the other.

You are only encouraging they don’t have individual identities. Pick out four different hairstyles and have them each choose. If they choose the same one flip a coin and make one choose their next favorite. Hopefully in the future they will feel like they can express themselves without feeling like they have to match.

Or continue on and Hanna will continue to answer to Hanna or Sara or the twins. And Sara will continue to answer to Sara or Hanna or the twins. Like that’s normal...

And be ready to pay for the therapy bills for the one who was forced to have the less preferred haircut.

Forced haircuts are totally unnecessary. Just work with them on polite ways to correct people. It sounds like maybe they are already doing well with that and just either got bored with it this weekend or wanted to make a game of it.

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever asked them if it bothers them that even family members and close friends confuse them sometimes? If yes, then you can brainstorm ways to look different like haircuts/dye, etc. I wouldn't insist that my 7 year olds correct older relatives all day when their best friends can barely tell them apart. What's the point?

My first cousin has identical twin daughters. The daughters are now in their early 40s and I am Facebook friends with them. When they were little, none of the family could tell them apart. I did not see them very often, but it was absolutely impossible to distinguish “Larla” from “Larlette.”. And not just impossible for me. Their own grandmother had trouble and she saw them frequently.

Fast-forward 35 years. The twins and I were at a funeral of an elderly relative and I had not seen them in-person for years. Yet, for some reason, I thought I could figure out which twin was which, since I am Facebook friends with both of them. I had a nice conversation with each twin separately and used their names. I was pretty proud of myself! Only later did I realize that I had switched them! I knew this because they were tagged in a family photo after the funeral and I recognized that I had confused them. I felt absolutely horrible and apologized to them each, via Facebook, and both were gracious. They laughed it off. They could have corrected me in any of our conversations, but I think they were simply trying to be nice. And to this day, they look identical, they style their hair the same way and have the same hair color, I don’t know how people tell them apart at all. But they seem to have adapted just fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you insist that family and friends get the names right?

In a large family / friend situation -- I think by answering to either name they are just being polite.

+1 Your girls are being polite.

There is nothing polite about pretending to be someone else. It's polite to just say "I'm Susan".

+1

Sally is the pony tail girl and Sandy wears braids. Are the in the same class at school? If the teacher can not tell it is a problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can you insist that family and friends get the names right?

In a large family / friend situation -- I think by answering to either name they are just being polite.

+1 Your girls are being polite.

There is nothing polite about pretending to be someone else. It's polite to just say "I'm Susan".

Anonymous wrote:Your girls are either being polite, or they are starting to realize that they can pretend to be the other child which is part of the fun of having a twin. I wouldn't mark them somehow with a different haircut - God has already done that somehow. I'm actually shocked that as her parents you guys don't know the difference.

PP

And by that I mean, that there must be some minute difference (a small mole, differences in the way that they talk, or gait, something)