haircut traumas in 3 year old-what to do!?

pinkmami

My DS will be 4 in April & he gets upset by haircuts. Took him 3 times to the salon down the road & he wailed & wailed! Decided to gate a mobile hairdresser in to get DH & DS done & although he still gets upset, he perks up when I give him a biccy & switch on Peppa Pig!!!

flutterby_lil

zoesmummy_2006 wrote: »

my son is 3 and has quite thick hair that grows fast and wavy. Its desperate for a cut again now but every hair cut he's had, and he's had about 15 in 2 years, have been sooooo traumatic. He screams bloody murder the entire time, kicks, fights, sobs and just hates it.

I picked him up from playgroup last week and said "shall we go and get your haircut?" and he burst into tears and just sobbed. He hates it, and i dont know why.
I usually take my dad with me because he can hold him long enough for the hairdresser to cut it, but I dont want to have to keep holding him in place to have his haircut. Im now thinking of buying a set of clippers for at home and doing it myself, my cousin has just bought some as she does her 2 sons and hubbys hair and has said im more than welcome to go try and do his hair with them before buying any.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how to get my lil man to see having his hair cut is ok??????

About 15 in 2 years? My son has his done every month so we are almost double what you have.......

basketcase

Does he know why he gets upset? Has he said he's afraid or what?

My DD used to get a fit of the giggles because it tickled. She ended up soaked to the skin one winter's day by trying to squirm out of the way!

saidan

he's 3?

tell him he has to sit in the chair and have his hair cut.

onlyroz

We take ours to "His and Kids", where they let the kids watch DVDs while cutting their hair.

gingin_2

saidan wrote: »

he's 3?

tell him he has to sit in the chair and have his hair cut.

Do you really believe the OP hasn't tried that, or was it just a smug dig?

Spendless

My mum's a hairdresser and even she didn't used to cut my son's hair when he was little! I went to the barbers that was really quick, as I see you have done. The barber also used to have a couple of little toys, cars, lorries that she would give to kids to hold as she 'zoomed' over their hair. That was something for him to concentrate on instead of squirming, and held interest as it was te only time he'd get to see/play with that toy. Maybe give that a try? A small item that he will like packed away in your handbag that only comes out at hair cut time.

ska_lover

If you put yourself in the position of a three year old, being physically restrained by someone twice your size whilst a stranger comes at you with a pair of scissors must be horrifying for the poor mite, and is definately is not the way forwards.

I agree with someone earlier saying that a lot of lads act like this, at three years old I was cutting my lads hair in his sleep. Sometimes it would take a few nights to get done lol.

The clippers sound like a great idea, would it be possible he can have his hair cut at the same time as his dad, ie sit and watch you do dads, then cut your lads?

victory

W e had this and many years later we asked DS why he was such a nightmare, the screams he used to bellow out OMG, turned out his hair must have had a tangle it and the hairdresser at the time tried to comb it out but yanked it hard and he remembers that and dreaded going incase it happened again, so from something very simple it turned into a major trauma for him.

Once he realised it was a one off, unlucky for him but it happened and did not have to re-occur he settled more into it and was fine.

Could be the smells? The scissors? the noise of the hairdryer?

aliasojo

Loads of sympathy for you OP. Eldest was exactly the same. I stuck to the same barber shop cos at least that way my embarrassment was contained in the one place rather than spread all over town.

He also hated getting his toenails cut, that was a saga too. He still does and he's 28 now.