Truly awful haircut...what to do?

[SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough]

I took my 18 month old for a haircut today. It was in her eyes and bothering her and needed to be done. I only asked for the fringe trimmed, just to take it out of her eyes.

The hair dresser was lovely, he was so gentle with her and patient but my daughter would not stop moving. She was terrified. She was shouting "scary, not a big one!" at the top of her voice and flapping her arms around. I don't blame the hair dresser at all but the result is truly terrible. I mean, this is probably the most uneven fringe cut I've ever seen. There's a chunk missing on the side, long pieces hanging over her eyes and its completely wonky.

I don't know what to do. I can't leave it how it is, but I don't want to traumatise my daughter any more. (She appears to have some hypersensitivities, which I am keeping a close eye on).

Would I be unreasonable to take her back into the hairdresser's tomorrow to see if they can fix it? I should add, I am absolutely devastated. She had perfect curls before and now because of the big missing chunks it's going to have to be a micro fringe.

Just cut off that one longer bit in the middle. It'll be fine. It's just hair. She won't be bothered by how it looks.

She’s so sweet. Dd did so much worse (although obviously we didn’t have to pay for the privilege) and we used clips.

I wasn't exaggerating. I know in the grand scheme of things its just hair and it will grow back. But for my daughter's first haircut,...my heart just sank.

Yes I paid £15. The hairdresser was lovely, not his fault, she just wouldn't sit still.

Trimming a fringe is really easy to do at home, it'll literally take a minute if she's sleeping/still.

When my brother was little, mum and dad had to do his hair at home because he would not tolerate at haircut at a hairdresser.

I used to feed him a packet of chocolate buttons as slowly as I could manage and that distracted him enough to cut his hair. They had to get pretty speedy because once the buttons were finished it was game over for any further hair cutting!

Agree with cut it yourself. Put on the most distracting tv show (that she never gets any other time), sit her in her high chair and work quickly and carefully with the scissors. Start with the middle of the fringe and cut out to one side, then cut from middle to the other side. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. She will still look adorable.

Pudding basin 😃

Made me remember when my husband took our son as he’d said it wasn’t very even when I’d take on him before - he came back with it much more uneven, plus bits of hair, tears and chocolate all over his face as the hair dresser had tried feeding him quality street to calm him. If it’s any consolation he pays a small fortune on his hair now (aged 25)

My son was mental for haircuts as a toddler but my SIL used to cut her boys’ hair herself and it was horrific. I found a place called Short Cuts which specialises in kids and they were amazing with him. Not sure if any of the locations are good for you? Will try to add link xx

a lot of little ones have a strong forwards growth pattern - it looks like that long bit in the middle was likely sectioned off to sit to the side to cut a ‘traditional’ fringe without taking the direction of growth into account. If you swept that longer bit to the side of the fringe there is a chance it would even out the short bits to the sides??

to be honest I’d just use clips or hairbands until it had grown out if it was a traumatising experience.
It probably was for the hairdresser to be fair!

if you did have a go maybe consider something like this to use as a cutting guide and I’d put a scarf or something over her face to stop the cut hairs irritating her: https://amzn.eu/d/46fCTaz just please make sure you cut it dry and try not to pull it down too tight as if you cut it wet/pull with lots of tensions it will spring up ridiculously short!!

For this time, agree just try and get the long bits. Cut a tiny bit at a time. It tends to end up shorter than you think.

Or worst case buy her some hair clips and put it out of her face.

For future, we got a crea clip (well probably a cheap imitation version) in lock down.
It's like a big clip with a spirit level you cut along - there are loads of videos.

They need to look down anyway so just let her have a tablet and watch Peppa pig for 10 minutes.

It's not perfect but definitely better than is ever manage free hand.

To cut the fringe, comb it gently then make your non dominant hand into a pretend pair of scissors. Trap the fringe between your two fingers and gently pull it downwards, until there's just a bit of hair showing. Keep your fingers straight in a nice straight line, and then trim the hair that's showing beneath your fingers . . .

Oh OP, can you not just pull the long bit back (ie change the fringe start)? I gave my own DD a "trim" once at a similar age and it was not good.....it grew back really quickly and she has lovely hair now.

Just snip it yourself

Probably get flamed for this, but maybe next time you need her hair cut, go somewhere else so it’s a new environment, and have a female hairdresser with a calming soft voice. She may have been frightened it being a man. Even with a calming voice, he might not have been so calming compared to a woman.

YABU to take an 18mth old for a hair cut in the first place. There's no need for it, just put a clip in it or create a parting so her hair isn't coming down over her forehead like that.

Well, it's done now and looks horrific, so you'll either need to take her back to try again and hope they don't take the piss and recharge you, can't believe they even charged £15 for a tots fringe trim in the first place. Or you'll have to fix it yourself.

If you do nothing, it will grow out, but will take a very long time and obviously stay uneven.

Oh, cock off.

I had a go! It's something. The other side is even worse though 😭

I feel absolutely terrible. She wouldn't entertain a hair clip but since she couldn't see where she was going so I had to do something. This hairdresser was recommended and does kids and toddler cuts. At least she won't need a trim cut for a long time. I reckon she'll still be rocking a micro fringe at Christmas 😅

A bit off topic I know but@Theunamedcat I wouldn't trade skittles for it - I’ve never heard this phrase before but I like it.

OP I’d agree with trimming the long bit and finding a way to style it (maybe clips as suggested?) till it grows which I’m sure won’t be long.

Attempt 1 🥴

That’s fine now, just leave it be x if you notice any little longer bits just give them a snip when she’s asleep but honestly it looks lovely now ❤️

I think you’ve done a good job!

That's much better. Not sure why you posted on AIBU though, if you're just going to tell someone to "cock off" for saying YABU 🙄😂

It looks totally fine. Feeling "terrible"? About a toddler's slightly wonky fringe? Give over.

I feel terrible because of how much she clearly hated being at the hairdresser's. I regret taking her and putting her through the ordeal.

The fringe will grow back. It's bad & I was quite upset about it at the time. 🤷