Hair cuts??

[Imakecutebabies]

How do you give your children hair cuts??

I have an almost-7-year-old with long hair.

He cannot. Stay. Still. For more than approximately 3 seconds.

The most recently attempted haircut, after 2 "fixes" is still uneven and lopsided...

[Hidden]

Maybe try the electric hair shaver? Then you can do it slowly over the weekend whenever he’s sitting still. Maybe use incentives - like he can eat sweets or chocolate whist you do it? Or be on his tablet?

If they are moving so much then scissors probably are tricky …

[Imakecutebabies in reply to Hidden]

Electric hair shaver doesn't work with long hair (mid-back). I tried giving him things to do as distractions but he just kept turning his head to TALK to me about what he was doing. Maybe a tablet or a book would solicit less talking next time, thanks.

[Hidden in reply to Imakecutebabies]

Yes, hair clippers would not be then what you are after! Have you tried you being in front of him and chatting to him etc and then someone else cutting the hair? I know when my kids were little there were these hair stylist/barber places where they have all singing and dancing stuff for kids- TV with cartoons, special comfy chair etc.

Sometimes going to a purpose designed place and kids respond more attentive and focus with strangers and not acting like they act with us parents. Definitely the case with my kids!

My kids never needed it but I have always been taking them to the barbets/hairdresser and they learnt that they get a lolly after. Also I think they liked all the fuss made- that they get special high cushion to sit on, then the protective cape, also I noticed they love the fact that they go to a place where all adult men, teenagers etc go and there are TV screens with music channels, often too much bum shaking to my liking 😄 what these barbers watch but my boys feel that’s the place to be😄 And it’s soo funny how they care about that cheap lolly they get after😄I mean, they’d laugh if I tried to give them a lolly like this as a reward for anything yet at the barber it’s ‘precious’ .

[Imakecutebabies in reply to Hidden]

lol! I did try sitting in front of him and chatting/giving him math questions (he likes math) etc. while my husband trimmed the back, but no luck. He would respond to me and answer my questions... but his head was looking around all over the place the whole time he was responding. I'm realizing he doesn't actually maintain much eye contact when he's talking with you to begin with.

NYCmom2 below mentioned a mirror; perhaps the huge mirrors at a hair salon would grant him the all-around-view that he needs... And yeah strangers... showing off "how still you can sit" for a stranger with a lollipop may well produce better results than mom asking you for the fiftieth time... 🫣

[Hidden in reply to Imakecutebabies]

Another thought, does he like being touched on his head? How is he with hair washing etc? How is he with hair drying and combing etc.

Maybe he just doesn’t like being touched on his head? Because you did say that he would sit still when reading a book. So he can do it but not for you when you want his hair a bit trimmed…

I recently bought those weird wires on stick head massagers on Amazon - I even got carried away and got 2. Supposedly for most people it’s relaxing in the same way as when your hair stylist does it when washing your hair at the hairdressers. I mean, those wires on stick don’t compare to the proper massage but it’s still good. I am planning to introduce my kids to it, I showed it to them and they looked at me as if I am a mad woman😄 I’ll try it on them over the Easter break! Maybe it will even relax my ADHD kid enough that he will want to answer some maths questions without sobbing about it (he hates maths and no tricks of ‘casually’ asking him some ‘real life’ maths question works, he shouts he hates maths immediately).

Anyway, maybe getting this head massager would help with hair cuts? Because it would desensitise the child about the ‘touching head’? Although you didn’t say that this is the problem…

I hope you find some solution for your son’s haircut 🤞

[ADHD_DAD]

I would recommend a medication change. If he cannot keep still for more than 3 seconds, management has not bees optimized.

[ADHD_DAD in reply to ADHD_DAD]

Been not bees

[Imakecutebabies in reply to ADHD_DAD]

We have him on a non-stimulant for emotional regulation, but haven't put him on any stimulants yet because the non-stimulant alone drastically improved the reports he brought home from school, for now. But now you're making me wonder if he actually sits still at school for more than 3 seconds at a time. I'll have to ask, thanks. At home, I only see him do so when he's reading a book. (Even other things that hold his attention, like Legos, involve turning the head back and forth.) I think I'll try giving him a book to read next time.

[LAJ12345]

will he watch a tv, then don’t talk to him or distract him

[Imakecutebabies in reply to LAJ12345]

We don't normally watch TV, so I wouldn't know what to put on, but I'm not against using it, so I could probably find something. I'm not convinced that he wouldn't talk about it though... He'd probably ask a million questions. So then the question is, can he ask them without turning his head??!? Worth a try, thanks.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Imakecutebabies]

oh well, maybe it will be a novelty then saved for haircuts so long as he keeps still!

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Imakecutebabies]

The excessive talking should be reduced by giving him a stimulant.

[Cjkchamp]

We were lucky enough to find a very patient hair stylist. She let him watch shows or play games on my phone and she worked with him as he moved. What a great lady!!! Things got better as he got older. We had a couple of instances of people giving up, leaving him with a quarter of a haircut, or being downright rude and mean to us. I wish you luck finding someone good!!

[Imakecutebabies in reply to Cjkchamp]

Thanks! I didn't even try finding a stylist, but maybe it's worth a shot. Or maybe they'll just end up giving him just as bad a cut as I did. 🫣

[momlife7]

We have taken our son to a kids specific hair cut place since he was like 2 and they know what they’ve doing they have toddlers screaming and thrashing and handle kids with sensory issues and all sorts of things and ours is quick like I am always impressed with her

[anirush]

I took my grandsons to a children's barber that had video games or TV shows they could watch or play. Back then one grandson had a terrible time just getting in the chair because of anxiety. That business closed during the pandemic but hopefully there is something like that near you.

[NYCmom2]

Maybe if he can hold a mirror to see you without turning his head? He can keep talking and asking questions while seeing your face the whole time.

You bring up a good question about whether he can sit still for longer than 3 seconds while at school.

I didn’t realize just how inattentive my son was, unable to sit still and complete school work - until he was home during COVID shut downs. He was in first grade then. The public school was muddling through and not sending any negative reports home since he was already getting supports in the small ICT classroom (1/2 special ed, 1/2 general ed).

Once home with me and not able to sit through a single Zoom class or complete a single worksheet in a day we put him on a stimulant and saw a huge difference right away.

He was not meeting his potential at school and I wonder how long it would have been before the school or teachers said something. We’ve heard this from other parents and the common grade they cite is around 3rd grade when assessments and tests begin.

[Imakecutebabies in reply to NYCmom2]

His schoolwork is mostly completed and he's meeting all his grade level learning expectations, but it's true that when I watch him work on a worksheet at home, he's still very wiggly even while his eyes and brain are focused on it. I guess he probably doesn't sit very still at school, but so long as the work is getting learned and completed, it seems like a small problem... But then again, the teacher is not trying to cut his hair. 🙈 I wonder if the mirror would help; worth a try! Thanks!

[BVBV]

I would suggest looking up kid’s hair salons. We brought my son to those up until the age of 7, and they know how to cut hair on wriggly kids. The one we used to go to had a screen at each station that the child could pick what they wanted to watch (age appropriate), and the stylists knew how to cut very quickly and incentivize the kids to sit still.

[Imakecutebabies in reply to BVBV]

Thanks, I'll have to look into them again. A brazen part of me was going, "I'm just trimming off a couple inches of hair; how hard could it be?"... My folly 😅

[Onthemove1971]

I just found out that there is a hair salon just for kids wirh sensory issues. They have swings, sensory tables, different lighting. They can move around while their hair is being cut. I love this place. Could you look to see if there is a place like that in your area? We are in Northern California.

[Imakecutebabies in reply to Onthemove1971]

Fascinating. What's it called? We're in Northern CA too.

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Imakecutebabies]

It's called Tangle Free in Carmichael, Ca.

A photo of a child sitting in a chair with an adult cutting her hair.

[Nats2005]

For all the challenges we have with our son (currently 7 years old also), somehow haircuts haven't been a problem, even though we just go to a well-known chain of hair salons. But, the first time we took him I got my hair cut first, so he saw it was no big deal. He also likes the way he looks after he's been shorn (not to mention the lollipop, even though it probably has artificial colors he shouldn't have).

I did consider going to one of those kids' hair salons though.

[Larkin29]

Hello…. I intended to reply sooner. My son was the same and I started when he was a bit younger. He was fascinated by ladybugs and just about any bug. We happened to have a shrub that attracted these things and while he was looking, I was cutting. Funny. I enjoyed it so much, I returned to school (hair school) and became a cosmetologist and did hair for 15 years, starting in my 40s.

Since he wears his hair long, try to cut the length you want all the way around on the bottom. If you’re trying to layer it a bit, you can then use what you cut as a guide and can typically pick this piece up and continue cutting if he’s looking around. I know this is hard to explain. And you have to hang on but you then have the length that you’re trying to use.

Hope that helps.