Can You Offer Haircut Advice?
Tuesday June 27, 2006
A reader asks for your advice: I have a 5 year old autisic son who hates to get his hair cut. He becomes out of control and fights, kicks, bites,screams and works himself up til he can not breath. Do you have any advice or tip to make this better?
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Comments
It takes time and patience, but my school does it gradually.
1. take him to the haircutters, coax him into the chair, if he does it successfully reward him with a candy (or one of his favorite rewards.
2. within the couple of days, take him to the haircutters again, coax him into the chair, reward him. Then let a stranger touch his head and play with his hair several times (without the instruments). Reward him.
3. within a couple of days, take him again, coax him into the chair, reward him, let the stranger touch his head and try to get him to remain in the chair for 2 minutes.
4. within a couple of days take him again, coax him into the chair, reward him, have a stranger make a few clipping sounds around his head and get him to remain for 4 minutes.
5. From then on he should be able to get a haircut, as long as you provide him with many rewards at multiple intervals and give him praise.
hope this helps
chris
My daughter is PDDNOS. I found that if you sing a favorite song with her, she is less likely to squirm around. It has a calming effect to hear a mother’s voice.
Try occupational therapy if you haven’t already – specifically, brushing therapy. This may help disensitize your son to hair-cutting.
I cut my son’s hair at first at home in front of the mirror.He would stick things up onto the mirror to distract himself.(Ex. bandaids, stickers, etc)He liked looking into the mirror and playing with the combs and clips. OT helped since he would get ill when he felt the hair fall onto his skin.
the writer dosnt say if using scissors or clippers we found scissors too much of a risk and the clippers were noisy a chocolate bar first can help and playing the clippers in short bursts can help to adjust to the noise holding
someones hand and talking reasureingly
throughout worked
Hi. I hope this helps. When children come into the salon to see me for their first haircut and are extremely scared, I suggest to parents (if they have the time and they usually do) to not get the hair cut that day. Instead, for a few days before the haircut visit, I suggest that the parents help prepare the child for the trip to salon by doing the following:
1. sit the child in a chair in front of mirror like they are at the salon (”let’s play hair salon!”)
2. comb/brush the child’s hair each day to get them used to having their head/hair touched
3. let the child play salon with a favorite stuffed animal using a comb or brush (no scissors!!) while they are getting their own hair brushed. Then let the child bring the favorite toy with him/her to the salon for their hair cut.
4. sing a favorite song while they are getting their hair brushed
5. point out to the child that it doesn’t hurt having their hair brushed/combed
6. use a pretty or colorful towel or drape to put around the child
7. when the child tolerates this at a reasonable level, reward him/her with a treat OTHER than candy or sugar (if parents use candy at the salon and the sugar kicks in before the haircut is finished, it can be *extremely* difficult to finish the cut)
8. When the family returns for the haircut, I kneel down to the child’s eye level and introduce myself to him/her. I explain that I want to help keep their hair neat and show them the clippers, comb, and edgers *before* I ever touch their hair.
8. LOTS and LOTS of HUGS AND PRAISE when the child complies
I know that every child is different and responds differently. I can only speak from my own experience and these steps seem to really help put most of my younger clients at ease. There are still young ones who are scared and I just try to be as patient as I can be. But at no point will I jeopardize their safety. If the child absolutely will NOT sit still enough for me to safely cut their hair, then I won’t. Children are too precious to risk harming.
Hi! Ihope this can help. My wife and I had the same situation with our son; getting him to sit long enough to cut his hair was very stressful to all of us. My wife and I learned from trial and error that she could cut my son’s hair at home while he wore earplugs. This helped to cut down on the sound of the clippers which were very close to his ears. We would also allowed him hold the clippers while the clippers were off and then allow him to turm them on, when he was ready. This helped our son to have control of the situation (trust). It took several times and alot of patience; not only for us, but also for our son to adjust. Our son now allows his mom to cut his hair without the use of earplugs. But what is now a greater joy is that he is capable of sitting in a barber’s chair next to me and get a haircut with clippers, without his earplugs, at the same time while I get a hair cut. Our son turned eighteen this summer.
My son is now 10 1/2 and tolerates haircuts very well now. But it was a gradual process. When he was small, I held him on my lap while the stylist cut his hair. As he got older and more vocal about “why” he didn’t like having his hair cut (i.e., the clippers were noisy, the cut hair got in his eyes, etc.), we dealt with each issue individually. We found that an “old-fashioned” barber’s methods are more suited to his “sensitivities.” He goes to the barber with clean hair and the barber just spritzs it with water to re-wet it prior to cutting it. He also uses a comb to hold the hair away from his head prior to cutting it. He uses clippers sparingly and always warns my son ahead of time that it’s clipper time. He also let my son feel the buzz of the clippers on his hand so that he’d know what to expect when it was on his head.
Now that he is a GameBoy fan, he takes that with him and plays his game the entire time he’s getting his hair cut. He’s so engrossed in the game that he’s always surprised when his haircut is finished so quickly. Distraction from the “unpleasant feelings” is key! Also, an understanding stylist goes a long way!
Good Luck!
We struggled mightily with haircuts when Nick was young. We took him to a place especially for childrens haircuts, but he was always tearful, combatitive, and loud.
One day, I needed a haircut before a business trip. Nick went with me, and in the quiet of a two chair barbershop, we both got haircuts with minimal fuss.
The children’s hair place had too much stimulation, with other kids, smells, videos playing, etc. Nick needed the calm of an old fashioned, quiet, non stimulating environment for his hair cuts. Watch out for ladies salons, as the smells that come out can be stressful on sensory sensitive kids. A quiet, empty barber shop, no strong chemical odors, and a no frills buzzz cut make the experience easier.
Our son is 3 and a half with PDD/mild autism. We are fortunate enough to live near two salons that cater to children. Each station is equipped with a vehicle for them to sit in, along with a personal tv/vcr in front of them where they can choose and watch a video. If you think this would help, it is worth a drive every now and then if you don’t live near one already.
We started to cut our son’s hair at home, long before we learned he has an ASD. It was a struggle, and dreaded task, requiring my wife to hold him still and me to cut his hair with the clippers as quickly and neatly as was possible with a screaming, fighting child.
By the time he reached age 5 and we learned he has an ASD; we began to understand his resistance and his drive to resist hair cuts.
About this time, we re-discovered a chain of shops in Houston, “Cool Cuts for Kids”. They specialize in serving children as clients. They have distractions (TVs, Videos, Video Games, etc.) available. Every staff member has experience with cutting hair for kids with ASDs. Though none are specifically trained in this area, by the nature of the pervasiveness of ASDs, they have ample opportunity to learn in the field, so-to-speak.
Our son can not tolerate the clippers, the sound, sight etc. When we go in, he lays down the ground rules with the staff member “no clippers, scissors and comb only”. The staff even goes to lengths to un-plug the clipper, wind the cord and put away in a drawer, all to his delight. If his wishes are met, he will stay still and quiet, watching a movie while his hair is being cut. He does continue to be distressed, and is uncomfortable, but he is functioning at the limits of his tolerance, making it work for him, and getting a hair cut.
Hair cuts have gotten easier and more comfortable with each visit.
My Son Nick is 7 with PDDNOS Haircuts were very had for him. First we had him hold two squirt bottles and squirt a mirror or something we brought that was ok to get wet. Now he sits with a comb in each hand and makes music with them to keep his mind busy. When she gets ready to use the clippers he puts the combs closer to his face and it works great. Take your time and be prepared. Good luck.