Baby’s First Haircut

It has been a common Filipino practice to shave off all of a baby’s hair by the time he turns one in the belief that this will help make it grow faster and thicker. Of course, shaving doesn’t change anyone’s hair volume, or rate of growth. It only appears so because it will grow out with a blunt tip. But we’re not here to debunk that myth. (although we think we just did 😉 )

Anyway, we needed to give Atticus a haircut because his locks were too long that it gets inside his ears and eyes which he tends to scratch and so earns him some red spots and boo-boos. You see, he was born with a head of hair and therefore, it only took a little time to grow long. Although his mom has always wanted a long-haired baby boy (with that nice, thick, straight hair!), his comfort comes first before style.

There’s no right and wrong time to give your baby a haircut. But we chose to wait for Atticus to gain full control of his head and shoulders before getting a trim. We know that most kids would cry whenever scissors or razors touch their heads. What more for Atticus who dislikes being held down?

While his grandpa would do a very good job in trimming his hair, we opted for a professional kiddie haircut just to be sure that his first one won’t be traumatic.

We searched for kiddie salons and zeroed in on Cuts for Tots because there was a branch near us.

We went on a Sunday afternoon which was a busy day for them, but we only waited for a few minutes before Atticus got his turn. We chose a first haircut package where a certificate will be given with a before and after picture, together with a lock of his hair for souvenir.

The salon was pretty crowded which must have stunned him. The seats were cars with steering wheels and there were TVs by the mirrors to keep them as still as they can. Unsurprisingly, there were still babies and older kids crying. To this, he kept quiet and observed.

After getting his before photo, he was transferred into another “car” for the actual haircut. He was well behaved during the first snips, to the hair cutter’s amazement. He was able to cut off much of his hair without any qualms. There was also a TV in front of him to keep his eyes to the front, and minimize head movement, but he just watched what was happening to him in the mirror.

When it was time to use the razor, an assistant came to bring a toy for him to tinker with. It worked for the first few seconds until Atticus felt the razor vibrating against his head. He started to cry and was trying to move away from the hair cutter. The sound must have added to his tension.

As he was crying non-stop already, the staff resorted back to scissors. We have hoped this would calm him down and let the hair cutter finish the job. But it didn’t work. We decided to stop since his hair was neat already, anyway. We wouldn’t want him to hate haircuts.

There was not much assistance post haircut. We’re not sure if this was because they were too busy, or because Atticus was still crying. But we would have appreciated some help in brushing the trimmings off his body. We did it ourselves and unknowingly made a no-no–we wet a wash cloth to try to get them off. This made it worse because the hairs just stuck. (Well, we’re first time parents. ) We dried it off with a towel and asked for a brush.

Atticus calmed down after getting a change of clothes and we went out right away.