A Trip to the Hairdressers

[bennie]

My little boy now 20 months old hates the hairdressers. Unfortunately he has a LOT of hair and could easily need a trim every 4 weeks.

The first two visits were great, then all of a sudden i am having to hold him down - literally. It is very embarassing and I hate to see him distressed. Thankfully the hairdresser is lovely.

However no amount of distractions will calm him including the seat whicjh has a steering wheel attached !

Any suggestions gratefully accepted !

Bennie

You could try buying some cheap toys from a charity shop and let him practise at being a hairdresser/ watch you cutting the toys' hair/fur.

You could also get his hair cut so short with clippers that it doesn't need it so often.

Or you could pretend that his hero is David Seaman!

HTH!

Following on from Ionesmum's suggestion you could even buy the clippers and do it yourself at home - I know a Mum who does this.

My solution is this. A friend and I share a mobile hairdresser who comes to one of our houses and does both our hair and both kids at the same time. Hence we also get a babysitter/playsession all in one. It works very well. Although DS still has a tendency to fidget.

my son is 19 months and also hates having his hair cut...mostly he just wants to look and keeps turning his head to see what's happening. I've been cutting his hair myself...don't yet trust anyone else near him with scissors. I've had the most luck by putting him in his highchair, giving him a food treat that he rarely gets (something sweet) that takes a while to eat and cutting while he is distracted with stuffing his face. I think since he associates the highchair with food, he doesn't really realize that hair cutting is going on too!

Bennie - I had the same thing with my two - absolute horror of the hairdressers. Eventually I bribed them into it (Magic Stars and Choc buttons) but it took a while before they were comfortable. Actually our first nanny was a hairdresser on the side and she did it at home until they were two, which was much better - they were much more comfortable, so maybe you could find someone to come to you?
Good luck.

Bennie, sounds like my son has hair like your ds (He's 24 months). It grows like grass and I think he's had about 12 haircuts since he was born. Just a thought, do you let him sit on your lap while they cut his hair? I usually have ds sit on my lap and they put the cape around both of us, it seems to make him feel more secure. He doesn't like the clippers, but is happy to have his hair cut with scissors. Once when ds was younger, I was pushing him around a shopping centre in a trolley and I saw a barber's, so I decided to have his hair cut. When I tried to lift him out of the trolley he made a bit of a fuss, so the barber suggested that he cut ds's hair while he sat in the trolley. It worked like a charm because he was obviously more comfortable in the trolley. (He usually gets a lollipop from the barber at the end, so that helps too!) I find lollipops are great for this kind of thing because it holds their attention for a while, especially if they don't get them very often. Good luck.

I agree with Liamsmum about the lollipops! Great distraction, although they do tend to get abit hairy!

We have family trips to the hairdresser and are very fortunate to use an old-fashioned family place where they are very chatty and make a big fuss of him. So he sees us being done, a "special" chair is brought out for him and he gets to view the washbasins, flagons of shampoo, intriguing rollers etc. Plus wear a floaty big cape (Batman for us, Gringa...)
Bennie, definitely try and all be done together, we noticed a big improvement in ds when we did that.

My 19 month old won't let me near him with the scissors, but clippers are no problem at all. If you have them on the longest setting you can avoid the convict toddler look.