I loved Mrs. Deer’s recent post about how she cut Little Deer’s hair at home. While there are things that I can teach myself, things I can do myself, things I am willing to go out on a limb and try, Colin’s first haircut was NOT one of those things. Not because I am better than a home haircut in any way. No, no. The opposite. I just don’t trust myself with scissors, a mess of crazy curls, an impatient toddler and the emotions that are entangled with trimming his baby locks. I just couldn’t do it. And so, I settled for the next best thing – a visit to the local Hair Cuttery with his dad for some male bonding over haircuts.
Of course, before planning our big visit for Colin’s first haircut, I hopped onto Yelp to check out the local salons that cater specifically to children – KidSnips, Snippets, and the like. All across the country, salons like this exist, and I can only assume that the reviews across America are similar to what I’ve seen locally. Some good, but lots and lots of bad. Bad, not because the salons are actually bad. The widely varying reviews are because there is no predicting what will happen with a toddler stuck in a chair, surrounded by mirrors, overstimulating colors and sounds, and stranger danger lurking around the corner in the form of a lovely but terrifying lady with scissors aimed for his head.
I think that I held off doing this for so long because I was afraid of how he would react, how I would react and of how we would be better off flushing ourmoney down the toilet since there was a strong chance that he would wiggle, squirm and sob throughout the whole ordeal. I figured we could hold off for a long while, since his hair wasn’t obstructing his view on life and hadn’t gotten too unruly.
Well, Colin’s hair had other plans, as it crept further and further into the realm of mad scientist. Mr. Confetti kept threatening to sneak off with him to chop it all off, so I knew that the only way to preserve his baby curls would be to relent to taking him in together for a trim.
Since Mr. Confetti was overdue for a haircut himself, our original plan was to venture to his salon as a family on Saturday afternoon after nap time, so we could introduce the concept of a haircut as a non-scary experience. I figured that if that went well, we could sneak across the street to a local kids’ salon so the Colin could have his turn. We made no actual appointments, since both places welcome walk-ins, and this allowed us to make a game-time call based on C’s reactions and mood.
We arrived at Hair Cuttery, and luckily there was no wait at all. Mr. Confetti hopped right into a chair, and Colin and I sat in the chair beside him to watch. C is 100% a daddy’s boy, and he was really sad not to get to stay in his daddy’s arms, so after a few minutes of mild whining, the stylist said it wasn’t a problem if Colin sat in his dad’s lap during the cut. Colin beamed watching his dad in the mirror and sat contentedly while Mr. C had the clippers and scissors swipe through his dirty blond locks. The hairdresser let Colin play with her spray bottle and some plastic clips, and then once Mr. Confetti’s cut was complete, we made a quick game time call. We asked the stylist if we could just keep this party going and have her cut Colin’s hair as well. She was happy to oblige.
She swung the kid’s cape around his neck, and he got a little bit nervous. This was the moment where I thought it might have been better going to a kids’ salon, since many have televisions playing cartoons to distract the children from the actual hair cutting. And then I thought, duh….what are iPhones for? I pulled out my phone and clicked on the easiest video I could access – one of Colin and his dad having a tickle fight. He. Was. Thrilled. He totally forgot the cape, the scissors, all of it.
As the stylist sprayed his hair to dampen it and began to cut, Colin stared at the images of himself giggling up a storm, and caught the case of giggles all over again. He watched the same giggling video about 15 times, while the scissors flew through his curls, snipping off about a half of an inch – just enough to revitalize his curls and trim the unhealthy ends. The entire ordeal was less than 10 minutes, and he shed zero tears. I took a few pictures, and of course, we held onto one tiny curl to take home as a memory (what we’ll do with it, I have no idea…).
While I truly dreaded getting this done, in the end, I was so happy that it went so smoothly. It’s great to know for future cuts that a little bit of distraction and the comfort of daddy’s lap can go such a long way in keeping my temperamental toddler calm in the face of a haircut. And my fear of the disappearance of my little baby boy was unfounded too – while he looked a bit older that day, strutting out of the salon with freshly trimmed tresses, he’ll always be my baby, haircut or not.
How was your LO’s first haircut?
blogger / persimmon / 1231 posts
Love that picture if him just beaming. So glad he did so well! LD’s hair has already grown back since I cut it. I know I need to just let it grow avid get long, but it’s only long on top and the sides are still so short…not sure what to do! Guess we’ll continue on with the single top pony
nectarine / 2886 posts
This is a great idea! I’ve been putting off my LO’s first haircut too and never thought of bringing her along with me or DH.
grapefruit / 4923 posts
oh my goodness what a champ! you got some adorable photos. i think it’s so sweet he wanted to sit on his dad’s lap, and the bonus was that it made him more comfortable with the experience! win win!
cherry / 156 posts
Oh he is so cute! We just took my son for his first haircut a couple of weeks ago. He doesn’t have much hair, but he did have a mullet that was driving me nuts! So many times I was ready to cut it myself, but I kept chickening out. I finally found a barber shop that cuts little boys hair and my mom and I took him. He ended up crying through the whole thing and had to sit on my lap, but the lady who cut it was really great and patient. I tried distraction…phone videos, little toys..nothing stopped the crying. She was really quick though and he was fine once she took the cape off of him!!
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
How cute. He was all smiles Usually the first haircut pics I see are for black and Hispanic kids. These baby boys are full of tears because the electric razor buzzing cares them.
blogger / nectarine / 2600 posts
Oh look at that sweet face sitting on daddy’s lap. He is so precious!
Drakey had his first haircut around 5 months, he was sporting a long rat tail mullet My SIL did it She continued to cut his hair til around 2 when he started to get very upset After that it was really hard for a while until I found a great kids place Now its easy but before I found her it was a nightmare cutting his hair I just let it grow as I didnt want to deal with it
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
He is so cute – I love his golden locks!
Our first haircut was unplanned and kinda easy because she was growing a mullet, so while she was taking a bath I just decided to trim her hair on the bottom to make it more evened out. Cutting wet hair is less messy too.
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
So adorable!! I’ve done Miss H’s haircuts at home but I refuse to anymore because she’s too much of a wiggle worm! Plus I do a terrible job. I’ve been trying to convince Mr. H that she needs to go for a “real” haircut soon but he’s fighting me on it…I think it’s because he’s perfecting his “pony tail” skills and worries they’ll cut it too short
grapefruit / 4717 posts
He is so ridiculously cute! I’m scared to deal with my LO’s first haircut, but it’s starting to get a bit out of control! I trimmed a curl around his ears last month, which helped a bit….but I think he needs a real haircut. Will totally use your tips and tricks to help. Thanks!
cherry / 168 posts
Colin looks great! I tried several DIY cuts at home, but our little guy needed a real haircut. We did the KidSnips on Clybourn. They were fantastic!
nectarine / 2163 posts
I cut my LOs mullet off when he was less than 3 months! we had a hairdresser friend cut his hair at our house the second time (at 10 months) and I just recently (yesterday actually! 15 months) attempted a DIY cut for him. it actually worked out really well, and his slight curls worked to my advantage, as they hid some of my wonkier snips
squash / 13764 posts
Aw cute! Our first haircut was awful–LO was hysterical through the whole thing, despite sitting on my lap and having a movie playing. Plus she cut it too short! I think it’ll be a few months before I cut his hair again, and next time I”ll do it myself!
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
My sons have very similar hair to your sons. I didn’t trust myself with the scissors either. We took them to my salon and had my stylist so it. They didn’t great! Although one of my boys did tell her to please be gentle. It was hilarious,
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
LO’s 29 months and we still have never cut her hair!
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
i saw so many older kids crying at the salon, but both charlie and olive are great when they get their hair cut. it’s such a rite of passage… don’t they seem so much older when they get their first haircut!
blogger / clementine / 998 posts
curls!
guest
Since kids are so hiper when it comes to playing this blog give a big help to the kids on how to cut their hair .Thanks to the staff.