the shoe thrtead reminded me - i fear ds1 may never ever have his hair cut unless YOU, lovely MNers, tell me how i can tackle the tears, screaming, wailing, thrashing....

[Tutter]

and that's just me (ba-BUM)

seriosuly, he HATES it. last time we tried the barber apologised and said he couldn;t carry on (after one snip) as too dangerous

is he fated to resemble leo sayer for evermore?

[Twiglett]

find a hairdresser who comes to the house and arrange hairdressing parties with kids you know are better at it .. when they finish haircut they get a treat

[moodlumtheWOOOHOOHOOhoodlum]

either do it secretly while they are watching TV (this takes some time as they cotton on pretty quick) but I do this over a week or so (and yes they do look wierd for a while, but preferable to Leo Sayer?)

Or, find a Snip Snap a children's hairdresser near you, because they have funky mirrors and things to look at, and hairdressers with the speed and dexterity of Edward Scissorhands.

[Tutter]

have tried the hairdresser-in-your-own-hoem thing (mildly less stressful but still tears a-plenty - excruciating for me as she only charged £8 - felt i owed her £80)

and have tried the stealth-mum approach. he is like a bat - can sense scissors at 100 paces

[glum]

[fingerwoman]

do it yourself. especially if it is curly.
I always do ds's. last time people asked me if he had been to hairdresser as it was so straight lol.
I just make it wet and cut across as quick as poss

[JackieNoHeadJustABloodyStump]

How old is he? Bribable? (that may not be a word, but you know what I mean)

[stealthsquiggle]

My solution was to sign DS up for the hairdresser who came to nursery - actually, in all seriousness, it turned out he was massively scared of hairdryers, so since she didn't bring one that worked fine.

[xXxamyxXx]

my ds was so bad i used to try trim his hair in his sleep but unfortunatly im not a hairdresser and he was left looking like a monk he has had two sucsessful trips to the barbers after ten attempts but even then there where tears and snots flying and screams for hours afterwards he is due a trim but im terified to show my face in barbers!will watch this with great interest

[Twiglett]

mummy

[Tutter]

he is bribable (my favourite parenting technique in fact)

but i fear there are not enough choc buttons in the world

i have already tried "you can play in daddy's car" - this failed so i can think of nothing that would succeed

[hunkermunker]

My shoe thread?

Hey, I could've written the OP for this one too...

DS1 ran round the hairdresser saying "But I'm not keen on having my hair cut, Mummy!" until I caught him and pinned him on my lap while he sobbed and told me of his hairdressing woes (and ate biscuits).

Thank feck his hair's curly - he doesn't need it cut so often.

Can you use clippers? Think you can get low-volume children's ones.

[Tutter]

twig
that's blardy scary - i have a similar pic of ds1 in a box

[JackieNoHeadJustABloodyStump]

Does he go to nursery or playgroup or anything? Could you rope in one of the carers, or another parent, to take him? Bribe them instead

[MegaLegs]

The barbar I take my lot to doesn't use the scissors. He uses the clippers but with a comb so they end up neatly trimmed but not shorn. Less dangerous if he wiggles maybe?

[melpomene]

When dd1 was younger and dd1 had tantrums at the hairdressers, I had success distracting dd1 by giving her a new sticker book to keep her busy while having her hair cut.

[MegaLegs]

I mean barber not a large royal elephant.

[Tutter]

in the nicest possible way... stikers schmickers

erally, this is far worse than you're imagining

really

[barbamama]

I take mine to a children's hairdresser where they have a car that they sit in instead of a chair and we used to make a big deal about special treat siting in the red car etc etc and they have DVDs of cartoons playing plus give them lollies afterwards. After the first few times he will go (begrudgingly) to any hairdresser now and sit through it. Oh and I always tell them not to bother blow drying at the end as this is what freaks him out too.

[xXxamyxXx]

distractions dont work when they have their eyes screwed shut blinded by tears and screamin enough to wake the dead think ill just give up and rename ds rapundzel probably spelt that wrong

[xXxamyxXx]

mine has a car chair it was the only reason he evar got a hair cut as his legs sat into it his movement was restricted so the brave barber decided she probably wouldnt take an eye out but still screams tears and snots

[kidsrus]

get a pair of clippers and shave it your self

[brimfull]

ds used to be a nightmare getting his hair cut,I finally figured out he preferred a male barber rather than the woman who came to the house.
He's 5 now so will put up with a woman and doesn't freak out like before.

Have you tried a gender change for the barber?

[codswallop]

mate had htis
sned him wiht his grandma

[hunkermunker]

Tutter, I've emailed you.

[xXxamyxXx]

im going to send mine with dh this time see if it makes a difference even if it doesnt dh will know the embarrasment i have told him about

[mimsum]

ds1 was like this - I had to steel myself for weeks beforehand and we only took him when he really couldn't see anymore (has mop of curly blond hair, v cute but unruly ) - when we got there he would scream the entire way through and have to be held down

we've always gone to children's hairdressers as they are incredibly fast and used to wailing and gnashing of teeth so the whole experience isn't quite as excruciatingly embarrassing ...

eventually when he was about 6 we found a children's hairdresser who he liked for some reason and although it wasn't his favourite experience by any means he would let her finish without trying to leg it out of the door

but alas, the shop closed down and then we had a 6 month period with no haircut at all - I'd make appointments at various likely options then we'd get there and he'd be like a horse refusing a jump - just couldn't get him through the door

about 2 years ago we discovered another children's specialist - she mainly does toddlers so ds does look a bit strange wedged into her chair (he's 10 now) - but he likes her and they have very odd conversations which seems to amuse her - cos he's anxious he just doesn't stop talking - it's a constant stream of very funny non-sequiturs, but it's ok - and he will even put up with a (very short) burst of clippers

so ... you will get there in the end ..

but don't even get me started on the continuing nightmare that is shoe-buying