hair cut Archives » Figur8 - Nurture for the Future

A Winning Formula for Cutting a Toddler's Hair

I think we’ve finally found a winning formula for cutting Gavin’s hair. Uncle Madan (sorry – I don’t know how to spell his name) seems to have the winning touch.

Check out that compliance…

No fussing – not even a whimper.

The end result – which is a lot better than the last cut (as I’m sure my SIL will agree).

In all honesty, I think Gavin’s recent compliance for hair cutting has a lot more to do than the person cutting his hair. This has been the third hair cut where he hasn’t screamed and howled his entire way through the process and I think there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration.

The fact that he is now older and can be reasoned with. I really do think the real turning point came when I talked to him about what we were going to do and how it would feel using just my hands and not the scissors or the clippers. After that incident, he never cried again.
The fact that the last two hair cuts were relatively pleasant experiences. I honestly think that every time he howled and cried through a hair cut, part of the trauma was probably more due to the fact that we forced him into it rather than the hair cut itself. Then each time he found out he was going to get his hair cut again, the howling and screaming returned because he remembered how miserable he was on the previous occasion.
I’m sure it also helps that he has different faces involved with the procedure (Uncle Madan cutting his hair – whom Gavin has never yet had a bad experience with, and Granny Leong holding him).
And a new environment for the procedure – Daddy’s work place.

Even with this experience under out belts, I do wonder with a second baby on the way whether the screaming and crying will be unavoidable with baby number two or if that is just an inevitable part we’ll have to endure until baby number two is old enough to be reasoned with?

Tell-Me-Thursday: The Hair Cut

by Shen-Li Lee Leave a Comment

Here’s the story behind yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday – The Hair Cut.

Gavin was due for another haircut so the hubby and I braced ourselves as we took him to A Cut Above at Midvalley, where he had had two successful haircuts in a row. All our past experiences cutting Gavin’s hair has always been rather traumatic (for both parents and Gavin) so we always dread having to get his hair cut. Nevertheless, it had to be done, so off we went.

Unfortunately, Gavin already remembers the place and the past trauma he had experienced there so he started to fuss even before the hairstylist was in the scene. By the time everything was set up and ready, Gavin was screaming fit to burst and all we ended up getting done was an accidental shave off one side of his head.

As usual, we gave him two options – cut his hair now by the professional who would make him look handsome or let Daddy give him an ugly haircut when we got home. Willing to do anything that meant he could leave the salon, Gavin agreed to the ugly haircut when we got home. By the time we got home, he had fallen asleep so his haircut was deferred until he woke up.

Persistent Daddy came after him with the clippers as soon as he woke up and Gavin balked again. We gave him another choice – either Mummy or Daddy to cut his hair. As expected, he chose Mummy but was still extremely apprehensive about getting his hair cut. To calm him, I used my hands and pretended they were a pair of scissors and started to “mock” cut his hair as I explained to him what I was going to do. He calmed down enormously and allowed Daddy to finish the haircut with the clippers. It was probably the first and only time Gavin has been calm all the way through a haircut.

I think what helped this time was the fact that he is now old enough to be reasoned with.

Unfortunately, Ah Kong wasn’t too happy with Daddy’s hairstyling efforts, so when we next visited him at work, he got one of his workers (who was apparently a former professional hairstylist) to cut Gavin’s hair. Held by Granny L and distracted by my MIL, Gavin cooperated very well all the way through the haircut. The result can be seen in the photos from yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday.

So here’s what I think worked well:

the fact that Gavin had already had one calm experience cutting his hair at home with Mummy and Daddy (part of the reason why I think Gavin hates haircuts because he remembers it to be a time when he was crying and Mummy and Daddy forcing him to keep going).
Ah Kong’s worker used scissors instead of the clippers which makes a terrible droning noise.
Ah Kong’s worker was a new person he had never associated with past trauma.
the environment was also different – he had never had a haircut in Ah Kong’s office before.
he was distracted by two different people (who weren’t Mummy and Daddy – the two culprits responsible for all his former haircut miseries).
my MIL had something new and interesting that he has never played with before – the clippers.

More tips for home haircuts for boys.