Small children have different priorities than adults. They’re thinking about recess, snacks, their friends, and whether they can run faster than everybody else on the playground. Most of them are not thinking about whether their haircut complements their curl pattern. And that’s okay. Childhood doesn’t need to become another beauty routine they have to manage.
Then there are the parents—and the internet has some of y’all stressed out. You’re about to pay me over $100 for a specialized curly haircut that your six-year-old probably won’t even remember. If your child is generally healthy, you’re taking reasonable care of their hair, and you aren’t repeatedly damaging it with excessive heat or chemical services, you probably do not need to be nearly as worried about getting their haircut “perfect” as social media has convinced you to be. Does your kid eat vegetables? Get enough sleep? Drink water? Those things matter a whole lot more to their overall health—and ultimately healthy hair growth—than whether you bought the “right” scissors.
And please don’t feel like you have to figure out your child’s exact curl type before you can take care of their hair. Knowing whether somebody decided those curls are 3C or 4A isn’t going to magically tell you which products to buy. Learn how to gently cleanse, condition, detangle, moisturize, protect, and trim their hair when necessary. Keep the routine simple. If you genuinely think something is wrong with your child’s scalp or hair beyond normal dryness, tangling, breakage, or needing a trim, that’s a conversation to have with their pediatrician or a dermatologist—not the curl chart.
Around age 11 is when I’m generally more interested in taking someone on as a client because that’s often when kids begin developing their own opinions about how they want to look. I want to talk directly to the person whose hair I’m doing. What do you like? How do you want to wear your hair? Are you willing to do what this style requires at home? That kind of participation matters to me. And no, this policy isn’t simply because little kids cry, wiggle, or don’t sit still. Some of my grown clients…whoo chile. Sitting still is not exclusively a childhood struggle.
Of course, some younger children absolutely love their hair, care about their style, and enjoy the salon experience. But enough of them would rather be somewhere else that I’m comfortable waiting. There will be plenty of time for professional hair appointments. Let little buddy go play. When they start caring about their own hair and are ready to participate in taking care of it, I’ll be here.