My SO and I took our son here for his first haircut. He had beautiful blond ringlet curls. The kind of curls babies get and a never the same once they're cut. Of course the front grew, too, and was in his eyes. After asking about recommendations for a child's stylist, Stylin' Kids was recommended.
It's definitely a kid's salon but I'm not sure our stylist knew anything about kids. I wish I could remember her name but I think I blocked it out due to PTSD. (Joking.. kind of). We were clear we wanted to trim the hair from his eyes and take a small amount off the end to clean it up.
First, the stylist (and I use that term loosely) parted his hair before cutting it. I told her his hair parts the other way. She told me all boys (men) had their hair parted the way she did it and only girls parted it the way he had it. I told her I parted it the natural way his hair grew. She argued that is how girls parted their hair and she would give him a nice boy's haircut. I was firm I wanted it cut to follow the part the other way because that's how his grows naturally; she begrudgingly agreed and made a comment about "boys don't wear their hair that way, but whatever."
She then proceeded to trim the back and sides. And trim more. And still more. And still cut.. and cut. And cut. The entire time I was telling her to stop cutting, we didn't want it any shorter, we just wanted the ends trimmed and we wanted to keep his curls. I was finally firm and I told her to stop at which time she insisted he was moving around so much it was uneven and she had to even it out.
She also has insisted his hair was damaged and he had lots of split ends. I told her his hair was not damaged, we don't use styling products on his hair, I only use high quality organic and vegan baby products, and we blow dry it on the cool setting only. His hair made seem damaged because it was frizzy looking and that was because he has curly hair and she brushed it when it was dry. My hair is naturally curly, one thing you do not do with curly hair is brush it when it is dry: INSTANT FRIZZ. Someone with straight hair may not know this but I would assume a stylist would and would not mistake the frizz she created for damaged hair.
In the end, he had no curls, and hair cut way shorter than we ever wanted. We just wanted a trim in the front so he could see and a trim in the back to clean up his curls. She insisted he now had a nice boy's haircut and not a girl's haircut or a mullet.
The entire time she kept cutting, she kept saying he would have a nice boys haircut. She was an older woman and I think she just has it in her head bots are supposed to have hair a certain style and length. As parents, we did joke he was going to have a baby mullet but I wasn't ready to let go of his beautiful baby ringlet curls yet.
The irony is, after she had to cut so much off to even it out, it was the choppiest haircut I had ever seen. Pieces inches longer than others to the point there were strands past his shoulders. In the end, I had to take him to my stylist to even out his hair. I also asked her about his hair part going the "girl's way." She looked at me confused and said people part their hair how it grows naturally. There's no such thing as a part defined by gender unless it's an outdated notion from decades ago.
Afterwards, kids get to pick a toy from the treasure chest. My son was 2.5 years and he picked a toy car. The car he chose was broken and I asked the stylist if he could choose another car because it was broken. She told me it was one toy per child. My son was visibly upset and I told her I understand the policy, but he's not getting a second toy, the one me he chose was broken. This all happened within seconds, all while in front of the treasure, he did not walk away with the toy and it broke. He started to cry, cause a scene, and I apologized to him but he wasn't allowed to get another toy. Eventually the stylist changed her mind and said ok he could choose another toy but I'm not sure why it took my son crying for her to change her mind. The toys are cheap toys you'd expect to get at the dentist, stylist, etc. she wasn't giving him a second high end toy that would leave to a big profit loss. It was also broken when he got it, HE DIDN'T BREAK IT.
He will be my my child and both my SO and I went for his first haircut because it was a special occasion and a milestone. Thankfully I'm more of a "cry on the inside" type person and I'm not openly emotional because if I was, I would have been a mess.
This special moment was taken from me and I'll never get to experience a first haircut again. I'm usually not so dramatic, especially over hair that will grow back, but I missed a lot of firsts with my son and I won't have any more children. He was a micro preemie so many things new moms experience and take for granted, I didn't have, and I want to experience and to celebrate as many as possible now and that was taken from me. read more
