Special Needs
smerka
member
SPD and haircuts
smerka
member
My son was just recently diagnosed with SPD. Thinking back on his last haircuts, I realize that the SPD probably plays a huge roll in why it is so difficult. I have to hold his head while the stylist uses the clippers and scissors and he screams and squirms the while time. We do go to a kid friendly place with kid chairs, toys, and movies, but that doesn't seem to help. The last stylist suggested just using clippers and I will try that, but any other advice?
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Re: SPD and haircuts
For our little guy it was the clippers that used to do him in but he's been going with his dad lately and he says it hasn't been so bad the last couple of times. We've tried a bunch of different approaches - he's sat in my lap. We've also done it without the cape - one of the stylists pointed out that kids tend to freak out when they're wrapped up in the cape thing - I will say he was a bit calmer during that cut. We just had to change his tee shirt afterwards. The place we go to allows them to watch a DVD if they want but that doesn't really interest him. We usually just let him play with one of our phones and have a snack while he's in the chair. We've also done an all scissor cut which didn't produce the cleanest lines but did make for a tear-free experience. Trial and error is the way we've gone.
FWIW I agree w/ auntie - I think your stylist might just wanted to shorten the torture time and get him done with clippers. IME it's the clippers that freak the kids out the most but again every kid is different and don't feel bad. My nephew, NT, couldn't get non-mom/grandma haircuts until he was 5 because he would FREAK every time they took him to a stylist.
Good luck!
I learned to do my kids haircuts at home.
Early on, he was fine at the kids haircuts place but around 2.5 it started to go downhill to the point where spending 25 bucks for him to scream and come home with a crappy haircut became stupid.
So I spent a few bucks on some salon grade clippers and scissors, watched a crapload of youtube videos and went for it. At first, it would take about 2 hours for me to finish - between him wanting breaks and the freakouts and my inexperience, but it has gotten faster over time.
For us, its not the clippers or the actual cutting - its any kind of hair that gets on his skin will make him itchy and will fuel a freakout. And he refuses the cape. so we've come up with a couple of solutions - I use a fan faced at him to get any stray hairs away as fast as possible, and he has learned to tell me (ok, he screams still) that he needs to be "wiped" - and I'll grab a spray bottle of cool water and spray/wipe where ever he feels ithcy. Then we continue....
This is working for us for now, and he has gotten better the last few cuts. No, his haircuts aren't perfect, but they are good enough, and free.
My experience is a tad different and it happened over a year ago.
The hair dresser was using scissors to cut DS's hair. I was holding DS in my lap. DS threw a fit and while DS was moving, he got cut with the scissors. He got stitches when I took him to the ER. And we did not pay for the hair cut.
I tried having DS watch DH get a haircut at the same salon a couple of times.
My MIL had tried to cut DS hair and DS would be scared of her. She did not know of the situation. That and DH and I decided not to tell her because she is a hypochondriac.
My sister is a hairdresser and she came from out of town. She actually does a good job and is much better than MIL. What actually worked was me getting my haircut from my sister first. DS watched me. Then it was DS's turn. I had him stand and I was feeding him like a bazillion jelly beans while my sister cut his hair with the scissors.
Darnit. True. That's interesting it works for pp's LO though. But like you said, YMMV.
Maybe a battery-operated fan to help blow it off faster? I mean, they'll grab the hair dryer every so often and blow it off but that's not usually enough. Maybe I should just let him grow it out.