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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About toddler in the hairdressers?

84 replies

IfIHadAHeart · 14/09/2022 12:45

I love coming to the hairdressers. It’s a treat, a bit of a pamper session and time to myself. Today’s appointment has been completely spoiled but I’m not sure if IABU!!

When I arrived, the customer next to me was half way through a full head of foils with a restless toddler on her knee. The little girl has screamed, shouted, run around the salon, had a tantrum, climbed on a cabinet and knocked a display over and is currently sharpening pencils leaving the shavings all over the floor. Mum has made very limited efforts to entertain her, and the poor hairdresser looks ever so flustered.

It has not been a pleasant experience. I keep telling myself to think kind thoughts and perhaps it’s Mum’s only chance for a bit of pampering herself, but I can’t control my face sometimes and the mirrored walls mean she has probably seen me glaring 😂

IABU to think you don’t bring toddlers to a three hour hair appointment?!

OP posts:
Skinnermarink · 14/09/2022 12:47

Er no that’s not ok. I wouldn’t dream of bringing a child to my hair appointment. I think I’d be speaking to the staff.

Throwawaytoday · 14/09/2022 12:48

Quick trim in a local and known hairdresser, with a child distracted by a toy or tablet (like an iPad, I'm not suggesting drugging them) - fair enough, needs must.

Full foils for several hours with a toddler running rampage. Not cool.

ChessieFL · 14/09/2022 12:48

I agree that this would be annoying for you, and ideally no you wouldn’t take a toddler to a three hour hair appointment, but maybe she didn’t have much choice and while she’s having things done to her chair there’s not a lot she can do to stop a toddler running around.

ChessieFL · 14/09/2022 12:48

Things done to her hair not her chair!

wtfisgoingonhere21 · 14/09/2022 12:49

Totally not ok.

The hairdresser should have made it clear to the client that her child could not attend with her and charged her for the appointment time.

I get that childcare issues crop up but it's bloody selfish to inflict that problem on others.

Kids should not be running around where there are many sharp hot and chemical things everywhere

grey12 · 14/09/2022 12:49

YANBU

It's one of the reasons I stopped colouring my hair. It's wholly unfair on the hairdresser. There are scissors around 😖 and it's not the hairdresser 's job to prevent the child from hurting themselves.

If I was the salon owner I would have refused service unless there was another supervising adult. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Skinnermarink · 14/09/2022 12:50

Well yeah but she’s getting highlights, not having an essential medical procedure. I had to cancel my long-awaited hair appointment last week because childcare for my one year old fell through. I was gutted and my hair looks shit, but that’s the way it is sometimes.

MynameisJune · 14/09/2022 12:51

As the owner of a 3 year old this is not okay at all.

The poor kid will be bored stiff and it’s not fair on the staff or the other customers.

No she might not have had childcare but unfortunately that means you cancel the appointment, it’s shit with little kids when this happens but that’s the way it is.

Belladonnamama · 14/09/2022 12:52

Not 0k. The mother is a selfish entitled twat.

Icanstillrecallourlastsummer · 14/09/2022 12:54

Not ok of course. This is the reason many salons don't allow people to bring children.

That said I bet it was worse/ more stressful for the mum, and I can't imagine many people doing it unless they had no choice, so maybe there is some reasoning to it that you just didn't know about....

Twizbe · 14/09/2022 12:54

Not ok. This is what mobile hairdressers are for if you cannot get child care.

ShadowPuppets · 14/09/2022 12:55

Skinnermarink · 14/09/2022 12:50

Well yeah but she’s getting highlights, not having an essential medical procedure. I had to cancel my long-awaited hair appointment last week because childcare for my one year old fell through. I was gutted and my hair looks shit, but that’s the way it is sometimes.

Same thing happened to me, my sister was due to look after DS but her car wouldn’t start and I had to cancel at short notice so hairdresser lost £60 or so… I felt like shit for the hairdresser but I didn’t have a choice :( is it possible hairdresser couldn’t afford to lose the income from childcare falling through and so is sucking it up? I get it’s awful for you though.

SissySpacekAteMyHamster · 14/09/2022 12:55

Totally agree. I was in the nail salon a couple of weeks ago and a woman was having a full pedicure with a baby in his pram. He was really bored, screaming his lungs out.

The smell of the chemicals in the place surely can't be great for a baby's lungs, never mind other customers having to listen to him.

Lottapianos · 14/09/2022 12:55

Not ok at all. I would be fuming if I were there at the time and would consider not going back to that salon. There was a toddler having a haircut in my local salon with the iPad blaring and I thought that was out of order too!

faithtrustandpixiedust · 14/09/2022 12:56

I take DD who is 3 with me when I get a hair cut, have done since she was tiny, she gets a trim after I've had mine cut. I wouldn't even consider taking her if I was getting a colour though, that isn't fair on anyone and is far too long to expect a toddler to sit.

ThisUserNameIsAvailableOk · 14/09/2022 12:56

"maybe she didn’t have much choice"

🤣 essential highlights. Jeez

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 14/09/2022 12:56

I went to the hairdressers back in the early summer and a lady was in there having a long appointment and also getting her DD's hair straightened. She was about 2 and hated it. Lots of screaming and crying. It was not relaxing

ShirleyPhallus · 14/09/2022 12:56

Of course it’s not ok but I can’t see anyone coming to say otherwise. You know it’s not ok.

However the hairdressers I’ve ever been to don’t allow children in, for the chemicals, noisy hairdryer, insurance purposes so….

Lockheart · 14/09/2022 12:57

Skinnermarink · 14/09/2022 12:50

Well yeah but she’s getting highlights, not having an essential medical procedure. I had to cancel my long-awaited hair appointment last week because childcare for my one year old fell through. I was gutted and my hair looks shit, but that’s the way it is sometimes.

I'm entirely sure your normal natural hair does not look shit!

Skinnermarink · 14/09/2022 12:59

Lockheart · 14/09/2022 12:57

I'm entirely sure your normal natural hair does not look shit!

Show quote history

🤣 maybe not shit but after a year of not having time to take much care of it and postpartum hair loss it doesn’t look great.

10HailMarys · 14/09/2022 12:59

I mean, it would be OK if it was a three-year-old who could behave themselves sitting on a chair with a colouring book or an iPad for three hours, but I can't imagine many/any three-year-olds could manage that, and clearly not this particular one, so yeah, YANBU to think it's a bit off. More for the hairdresser and the bored child than the other customers, but annoying for other customers too. If it was a baby asleep in a carrier or maybe even at a pinch if it was a treatment where the mum could take breaks to manage the toddler, that would be different, but a three-hour appointment for highlights or colour isn't going to allow for that.

I know not everyone can get childcare for this kind of thing, but I think if that's the case then the solution would be to find a mobile hairdresser who comes to the house, until the child is old enough to be at school or nursery.

TrashPandas · 14/09/2022 13:03

ChessieFL · 14/09/2022 12:48

I agree that this would be annoying for you, and ideally no you wouldn’t take a toddler to a three hour hair appointment, but maybe she didn’t have much choice and while she’s having things done to her chair there’s not a lot she can do to stop a toddler running around.

If only haircuts were optional...

HermioneWeasley · 14/09/2022 13:04

YANBU.. I’m astonished the hairdresser let this continue as they would be liable if the 3 year old injured herself. The mother is ridiculous. There is no such thing as essential highlights

20viona · 14/09/2022 13:04

I would NEVER take my 3 year old to a hair appt, and she's quite well behaved!

dmask · 14/09/2022 13:06

I wouldn’t go to a hairdresser that allowed babies/children.

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