Preparing for a haircut – tips for children with autism

Common challenges facing parents when they take their child to get a haircut include tantrums, meltdowns and tears.  

To support your child, it’s important to understand the underlying reason why they’re having a meltdown in the first place. All children are different, but some possible reasons could include: 

• They don’t like people touching their head/hair 
• They feel anxious around new people or places 
• They don’t like the sounds of blow dryers, hair clippers or background noise 
• They are sensitive to bright lighting 
• They may be sensitive to the strong smells at a hairdresser 
• They fear getting hurt from the scissors or clippers 
• They don’t like the sensation of brushing or washing hair 
• They may have a negative association with words like “cutting” 
• They don’t have an understanding of how much hair will be cut off
• They don’t like the sensation of hair falling on their skin. 

If possible, ask your child what they don’t like about going to the hairdresser. By knowing exactly what it is that they don’t like will help you find the best way to adjust the hairdressing visit to suit their specific needs.

Preparing your child leading up to the hair cut

• In the lead up to the appointment, show them videos of haircuts 
• Visit the salon a few times and just sit in the chair and meet the hairdresser before attempting the haircut 
• Let your child watch someone else getting a similar haircut 
• Schedule an ‘out of hours’ appointment when the salon isn’t so busy.
• Create your own social story of pictures of getting a haircut with a picture of the hairdresser, the chair, salon, scissors and clippers nd anything else you think your child might notice. 

Tips for getting the haircut

The most important tip of all is to choose your hairdresser wisely. There are many hairdressers these days who advertise themselves as 'child friendly' or ‘autism friendly’ . If you can’t find one of these, we recommend you find one who is flexible and open to trying any of the following suggestions: 

• Find the best position to get their haircut in – it doesn’t necessarily have to be in the chair. It could be sitting on your lap, sitting or even lying on the floor 
• Use whatever calming toys/objects work for your child e.g. favourite teddy, stress ball 
• Allow your child to do an activity to keep them distracted while getting their haircut (singing, counting, colouring in, favourite device) 
• Choose a haircut, if possible, that won’t amplify stress, for example the electric clippers are the source of their worries, then only get a haircut that can be done with scissors.

If going to a salon is too much, consider a mobile hairdresser who will come to your home.

If approached in a sensitive and prepared manner by all the adults involved, the process will get much easier over time.