Haircut trauma

[Hughsie]

HELP - ds1 who is nearly 4 will not have his haircut. we have tried several ways of doing it - bribes, taking him over and over to the same child friendly place so that he gets used to it, me doing it by pinning him down (not pleasant!), when he is asleep! Getting desperate as he is a bit hippy now! ds2 is fine and ds1 evens commends him on how good he is and how he deserves his lolly then he will get in the chair and only allow one snip before demanding the lolly and being completely hysterical.

Anyone else experience this and come through it??

[IloveMarmite]

Fraid not. My dd is 4 and has only had 1 haircut and that's only because her younger sister was getting her hair cut (by me) and I did not feel I could cut dd2's hair and not dd1's.

Maybe you could let him loose with scissors on a dolls hair or something? Do you have one you could sacrifice?

[Hughsie]

Dolls are not thick on the ground with two boys and I worry he would get creative with his brothers hair? We have asked a friend to take him with her son who loves it but even that didn't work and i was so embaressed about the behaviour i couldn't ask again. i have asked his nursery for volunteers and even suggested they get all the children's hair cut in the hope that ds1 would go along with it...DESPERATE. he is such a good boy about most things so I know I am lucky but.... AARGHHHHHH!

[collision]

We took ds1 who is 2.9 yrs for a haircut last week. DH said to him as he sat on his knee, 'Are you ready?' (could have killed him for saying anything!) and ds went bonkers! In the end DH had his hair cut first and ds wimpered and said that he didnt need a cut as he had strong hair!!

His hair was too long to leave the barbers and so I sat him on my knee and basically had him in a headlock for the entire time! There was nothing else to be done and he is always getting his own way which makes me cross. This time I won and he has a lovely haircut now.

Sorry not to be more helpful......headlocks were the only way for us!!

[Tommy]

Really feel for you! This happened with my DS1 - the first couple of times he was fine, then he decided he hated the hairdresser (came to my house) and having his hair cut. She suggested I got some clippers and did it which I did but was awful - he just screamed and it took 2 or 3 of us to do it and always stressed all of us out. Finally he said that he wanted me to do it with scissors which I don't feel I could (not very talented in the hair cutting dept!) and I took him to a local hairdressers and...suddenly he was fine. She gives him the water squirter thing and he spends the whole time squirting it at her, himself, me etc. Don't know what it was that turned the corner but we did. He's just 3 btw.
Sorry...don't have any advice but just know how you feel!

[Hughsie]

I am hoping that ds1 will just snap out of it but it is now traumatic for all of us to enter the hairdressers so that puts me off and I am bothered that ds2 will start to copy his brother (as he does with everything else!)I have done the headlock there before but ended up with dh on the floor kneeling on ds1 to keep his hands down and the poor bewildered hairdresser thought it was verging on child abuse - I have actually one to a few local hairdressers and am slowly eliminating them as I cant face going back due to embaressment - was wondering if a home one would help but he wont let me do it so i doubt it very much - soldier on I suppose!

[starlover]

I think what I am about to say may be quite cruel, but I am going to say it anyway.
Let him go without a haircut for a while... who cares if it's a bit hippy and long????
THEN, tell him he needs it tied up like a girl because it's too long and he won't get it cut.
Perhaps the thought of looking like a little girl will prompt him to have it done!

[tarantula]

I sgree Starlover Dss always refused to get his hair cut when he was small so it was left to grow. He had blond curly hair and looked like Oliver (as in the film) which he hated. He also got comments about "what a lovely little girl" etc. Eventually he decided to get it cut because of the comments. Still had fun tho as he changed his mind again half way through (got bored with sitting still). TBH I dont think its worth getting stressed over. let it grow and hell prob change his mind when he gets called a girl (either that or maybe you just have a true hippy on your hands in which case buy him some nice purple flares and long beads to wear).

[juniperdewdrop]

what about giving very small presents to open as he gets it done? or getting a hairdresser to come to the house? High chairs are useful too if he'll fit in one. If you can get the stylist to make a fuss of DS2 as she does it (slip her a note or have a quiet word) and he sees DS2 getting a pressie then he may be more up for it? If not this time then next perhaps?
Finding a child friendly hairstylist makes all the difference, luckily I am one so DSs get it done here

[sandyballs]

Leave it - I love little boys with long hair!

[tunise]

Why not get dh to tke him alone (a men only trip) at least you don't have to witness the horror!
I have found that proper barber shops seem to do a quicker and less stressful cut than family hairdresser. The barbers nicely but firmly tell my sons to sit still or get a ear cut off! They don't make a fuss and really seem to enjoy feeling grown up.
good luck!

[Hughsie]

Thanks all of you.

have tried the men only trip and on the firsdt time they faired better - novelty value i SUPPOSE - BUT STILL ONLY GOT HALF WAY AROUND WHICH LOOKED BIZARRE AND I HAD TO FINISH IT OFF VERY BADLY WHEN HE WAS HYSTERICAL. tHINK i WILL OPT FOR THE HIPPY LOOK FOR A WHILE AND TRIM HIS FRINGE IF IT IS ALL i CAN MANAGE. Caps lock is on - oops!