Hello,

My son is 3 and we had the same trouble as you when he was younger when we took him to a hairdressers. Despite watching tv, sitting in a fire engine chair and being fed snacks, he still screamed the whole time! I wasn't sure of it was because it was a new place and new people or whether it was because we had to take his implants off.

We tried the same as you and have a mobile hairdresser now. She is brilliant and plays with him and his toys first to get him relaxed.

When he is having his hair cut, we still sit him in a high chair so he can just play with his toys on the tray table while she is cutting away. He sits happily the whole time now. I think being at home has really helped take the stress away for both of us!

Good luck! 

Hi, my son is 13 tomorrow (he is hearing) and I had an absolute nightmare when he was little. He was an amazing child, abnormally well behaved you could say, always has been... but a trip to the hairdresser and he was the antichrist!!! SCREEEEAMING and thrashing like someo was trying to cut his arms and legs off, not a couole of centimetres off his hair!!!

the only thing that worked was giving him my phone to play his favourite game... sonic the hedgehog.

me 3 year old (deaf but don't think deaf has anything to do with it because why would it 🤷🏼‍♀️) is now similar. I can't say for definit anymore as it's been so long since he has been but the last 2 times he has thrashed about and caused a fuss. This one is the polar opposite of my other son so goodness knows how he will be when we go again. I am going to try as the hair cuts I give are passable... but barely 😳 I will try the old iPad trick and keep my fingers crossed. 

it May work for you if you haven't already tried it :)

Thanks for the responses - glad to know other people have experienced similiar.

It's a shame the hairdresser who we had visit us at home seemed to be doing okay with him but contact is not being returned.

Eventually as he gets older he will get better we hope, especially taking him to barbers but if we can get him set on seeing one hairdresser regularly then that would be good at this stage.

Hello!

My son is 3,5 with bilateral cochlear implants. He was born with lots of hair and had his first haircut at 4mo. He was so young that I didn't even consider taking him to a hairdresser. I've been cutting his hair myself every 3 months or so. 

My advice would be to buy some good clippers and try yourself (don't bother trying with scissors, I found it far too complicated and dangerous as my little one was squirmish). Get some clippers with guards for different lengths, the longer they are the better. Ours goes up to 25mm, and that's the length I always use (I think it was around £20-25, just picked them because it had the longest guard, many clippers only go up to 18mm). Watch a few youtube videos and when ready set your little one down with a screen and a snack. You really can't go wrong with the clippers (as long as you don't forget to put on the guard!), you just keep running it through the hair until it's even! Not being able to hear the clippers also helps, as I know sometimes hearing toddlers are scared of them. 

We also have a book called Hamish the Highland Cow, where Hamish does not like getting haircuts but his friends convince him to etc. There's probably other books too, or an episode of his favourite cartoon where someone is getting a haircut etc just to introduce the idea a few days before! Or a kids' hairdresser app that he can play, or you can pretend to cut a doll's hair etc.

You also save a ton of money in the long run and it has proven useful in lockdown as I've had to cut my husband's hair twice! 

Best of luck!