Hairy 2yo DS and the nightmare of getting a haircut

[CBear6]

DS is 2.9yo and has always had a full head of thick hair. He had his first haircut at 6mo and every few months since then, once it gets in his eyes and I can't see his ears anymore we take him to get it trimmed. Up until a year ago he was grand but his last 4-5 haircuts have been horrendous.

He's fine right up until the hairdresser starts at which point he goes into meltdown - screaming, crying, shouting, fighting, the works. The haircut is inevitably abandoned and we then have to go back for a second (or even third) attempt a few days later.

We've tried showing him family members getting their haircut including DH, his uncles, his grandparents, etc. We've shown him the comb, scissors, and so on. We've put him on our knee, we've given him DvDs to watch, we've tried bribery, reasoning, we've tried a hairdresser he knows and a specialist children's hairdresser, we've tried a home haircut, we've tried story/picture books, and we've tried talking to him to find out exactly what it is he doesn't like (his main hate seems to be hair falling in his face and having his hair touched).

Our latest attempt was for his Nana (my mum) to take him after we were advised that sometimes this works, he knows exactly which strings to pull with DH and I with regard to tantrums so we thought we'd give it a go and see if he'd let Nana take him for a haircut. I left them at the barbers and popped into the supermarket three doors down - I could hear him from the front aisle of the supermarket, I could also hear the comments from everyone else who could hear him and felt like the worlds shittiest mother.

So another half-done haircut and another nerve-wracking, fraught time.

Please tell me some things ... Tell me I'm not the only one? Please? He can't be the only one who does this. Is there anything at all anyone could suggest that might help him? I'm not fussed about him having long hair but he's going to at least need the front trimmed now and then, plus he's starting nursery in Septemer and they have an actual 'acceptable hair policy'

trim it your self when he is watching T.V. I used to sit behind dd and do it with her just sat on the floor infron of me. I kept a plastic pair of scissors that dont cut anything and she would then "cut" my hair. she didnt have her first hairdresser visit untill she started school. i would litteraly just tidy it up around face and straighten the back would some times take me 2 or 3 attempts over a coiple of days.

Yeah, I'd get a proper pair of hairdressing scissors and do it yourself. I do both DCs and mine.

My DS (2.3) is exactly the same. It's a nightmare! I wouldn't dare to cut it myself as there is so much of it. And I think boys hair is harder to some extent as it has to be fairly even...

Have tried all the same techniques as you, all have failed.

I just stick a rictus grin on my face, hold his arms down and promise he can have a new toy car afterwards. Then leave a big tip.

It sounds like you've tried everything I would've suggested so TBH I'd leave it.

The world won't stop spinning if he has long hair and eventually he will allow if to be cut (even if its when he discovers girls in his teens ).

My DS went through a similar phase with having his feet measured -I took to driving to shoe shops in nearby towns as I was too embarrassed to keep going back to our usual one only for him to have another meltdown!