What do you do when the mop of hair on your toddler's head turns into a wild growth? Haul him (or her) to the hairstylist and face up to the real challenge - making the child sit still just long enough for a hairstyle to emerge, says Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary.



Rayya Hajjar looks like a little lady after her cut.
Ask any toddler who he considers the four most scary people in his life and he is likely to say, the bogeyman, the doctor, the dentist and the barber, though not necessarily in that order. Of these, the doctor and dentist seem positively friendly compared to the barber.

Brandishing a pair of scissors and looming large over his small head, he is the ultimate figure of terror; if a child could think so, he would wish he had been bald.

Howsoever friendly, cheerful and inviting a hairstyling salon with its colourful walls, bright, big cutouts of flowers and cartoon characters, to a one-year-old, the sound of clicking scissors, the enforced mummification in a white cloth-shield and a hand firmly holding his head in place while something electrical goes menacingly 'buzzzzz' up and down his skull can be very unsettling.

My visit to a hairstyling salon for children seemed to confirm the above. A two-and-a-half-year-old toddler came in smiling, accompanied by his granny and mum, his chubby hands clutching a packet of sweets, crisps and a toy.


Rayya before the snip.
But the minute he realised where he was, his antenna quivered, sending loud warning signals. One look at the hairstylists and their scissors and he was running out of the salon. Caught, scooped and dragged in kicking and screaming, his worst suspicions were confirmed, and what followed was a session of bawling.

Then came an exercise in coercion that set everybody's nerves on edge - of a razor, that is. The child simply refused to cooperate.

Halfway through the torture, he looked red, hot and bothered, with hair all over his face - in his ears, mouth and eyes.

By now, his haircut had become everybody else's obsession. At the end of 45 minutes, looking dark, angry and thoroughly mad, he was taken off the high chair still looking like he needed a good haircut!

I recall the time when my son had his first haircut. The barber was called home and my one-year-old skipped and scampered on the lawn, running after the birds and the flowers, as the barber faithfully followed him with the scissors, snipping a lock here, a lock there until, a good one-and-a-half hours later, he looked neater and tidier, with no trauma to tag the episode.


Rayya... 'I like the new look.'
A visit to a hairstyling salon can be one of the most unforgettable experiences for a child, whichever way you look at it. A child may relax, watch his favourite cartoon film, ask for his favourite 'aunty' to cut his hair and munch his candies as he gets his locks trimmed into shape. Or, he might end up behaving like a terrified victim.

However, thanks to specialist salons catering exclusively to kids, haircare and styling for the little ones is now a kinder, gentler and thoroughly professional art. Friday takes a look at the latest haircuts for children between the ages of 1-12.


Pranav... 'Don't I need a trim?'
"Cutting children's hair is very different from cutting an adult's hair," says hairstylist Celia Trinidad from Just 4 kids, a chain of specialist hair salons for children in Dubai, who trained at an institute in the Philippines. "For one, there are fewer styles for kids and they are dictated more by manageability rather than pure trendiness.

"One of the most important things about being a children's hairstylist is to cultivate enormous patience. Children tend to be fidgety and shaky and you have to keep your calm and steady your hand, before you begin the trim. Sometimes, when the child is screaming, the stress of braving his displeasure can leave a stylist's nerves shot but the trick is to take a deep breath and snip away steadily.

"If worse comes to worst, we'd rather nick our hands than have the child be even ever-so-slightly scraped. Many a time, when we hold a section of hair between the fingers of one hand and snip with the other, a slight tremor will ruin our poise and we do get nicked."


Pranav undergoing a shorter haircut.
Richie Maquiona from Kut for Kids, another children's special salon at the Beach Centre, Jumeirah, agrees with that. "As a hairdresser, it needs tremendous concentration to cut a child's hair. A similar cut in an adult may require just about 30 minutes but with a child, it might take double that time."

So, how early on does one take a child to the barber's? Says Maxi Mina, another hairdresser at Just 4 Kids: "There is no specific age for giving your child a hairstyle. It all depends on the thickness and length of the child's hair. We have clients as young as four months old. Parents of infants born with thick, curly hair also prefer to crop it at the earliest possible for the sake of hygiene."


Pranav after the crop.
Strangely, it's not just adults who have definitive preferences when it comes to hairstyles. In today's times, young ones too are conscious of the way they look - obviously prompted by their favourite rock or film stars on MTV.

Although it is presumed that girls are more aware of fashion trends, it might surprise you to know that boys are fussier than girls about their haircut.

"Eight or nine-year-old girls come with their mothers in tow and it is the mothers who ask for a particular cut. But pre-teen boys sometimes come with their friends and are very particular about the style they want. They will come with a picture of their favourite star or with the friend whose hairstyle they want to copy.

"During the soccer World Cup, we had many who wanted a Beckham or Ronaldo cut. Even a slight difference from what they desire can upset them and one has to be very careful," discloses Celia.