My Four Year Old is Afraid of Getting His Hair Cut

by Ann Douglas

For some reason, my four-year-old is scared to death of going to the barber’s. I don’t know what it is that sets him off. We’ve tried taking him to a few different places, so I don’t think it’s a particular person or place that’s upsetting him, but he still cries uncontrollably every time he sits up in the chair. Is there something we can do to put him at ease, or should we settle for giving him bowl cuts at home?

See if your child can give you any clues about what he finds so scary about going to the barber's. Is it the thought of having someone cut his hair with scissors? the sound that the razor makes when it buzzes the back of his neck? the idea of having his hair washed in the sink or squirted with the strange-looking squirt bottle? worry about falling off the board that's placed on the barber's chair to raise him up a little higher? or something else entirely?

If you can find out what his fears are, you can figure out ways of addressing them (for example, explaining that while it hurts to get your finger nicked by scissors, it doesn't hurt to have your hair cut).
Other solutions that have worked well for other families include
  • getting the entire family's hair cut at once
  • taking your child to the barber's with other kids the same age (so that your child can see other kids being "brave")
  • choosing a kid-friendly hair salon that shows movies and cuts kids' hair while kids sit in race cars or on ponies • using a mobile hairdressing service that comes to your house.
And, as you noted yourself, you can continue with in-house coiffures, until your child finds those trips to the barber shop a little less hair-raising.

This article originally appeared in What's Up? Canada's Family Magazine.