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Autism and Haircuts

7/25/2014

2 Comments

 
We're doing another haircut tomorrow you guys. And right now, as I'm trying to go back to sleep, I can't help asking myself over and over in my head - is there anything else I can do to make this easier? And, more importantly, do we have everything prepared? As we've done several of these haircuts now, I'm starting to develop a list of things that we need to bring to make the process go more smoothly/easier on him. At this point, it's almost like a checklist.

My Checklist for a Successful Haircut
- Phone with lots of fun apps
- iPad, also with lots of games
- Super hero capes (he won't wear the hair dresser capes, hence the super hero capes)
- Lots of choices of clothes: Long sleeve shirts and long pants (multiple sets to change out as hair gets on them) and Buzz lightyear costume (because may as well try to make this feel cool)
- Visual schedule (with a positive thing, going out for ice cream, immediately after the trim)
- Candy (I use candy as reinforcers. My candy of choice is mini M&Ms to try to reduce the quantity of sugar getting into him)
- Sensory brush (for before the appointment)

And the most important thing? A hairdresser trained in working with autistic people. We have an autism group semi-locally and I called to ask them who they recommend (which I highly recommend parents do as well!). Turns out they train businesses to be autism friendly and they recommended this one. It also turns out that this particular hairdresser didn't need all that much training - her son is autistic. This will be our first haircut with her, but I'm sure she'll be great.

Now, some of you may be wondering, why is having a haircut such a big deal? There are three major aspects to this answer:

1. Sensory issues
This is a really big factor. Hair salons are often bright, you have loud clippers/scissors on your head/next to your ears (I'm bringing ear plugs to help with this, if he'll wear them), and, worst of all, some stray hair will inevitably fall on your skin. For those of us without sensory issues, this hair is already annoying and bothersome. For someone WITH sensory issues (which autistic people do have) this is likely to be magnified, to the point of a significant amount of pain. Either different sensory issues (maybe the velcro?) or simply past bad experiences have led the child I care for to refuse to wear a hair dresser's cape. That means in order to keep the hair from falling on his skin (which hurts), we've had to get creative - hence, the super hero costumes.

2. Bad experiences
Even the hairdresser herself said before she knew her son was autistic, she didn't know how to help him with haircuts. Before a child is diagnosed, it can seem like they're just having a temper tantrum or 'acting out'. And even if you know those aren't the case, without the guidance of a diagnosis it can be hard to know what to do to make haircuts less traumatic. This can result in bad experiences for the child and lead them to associate hair cuts with bad memories. Parents, don't feel bad - before a diagnosis, you really can't know why children are reacting this way, and if you don't know, you can't know how to help.

To help with the previous bad experiences, at a previous hairdresser's brilliant suggestion, we've rebranded hair cuts. They are no longer called hair cuts around him, they're called trims. This actually works because the experience that we're doing now is like night and day different from what happened before he was diagnosed. Now we play by his rules on his schedule, to whatever extent we can, and offer loads of treats and games to help smooth the experience. And when I told him we were going to be doing this tomorrow, he made sure to tell me that it was NOT allowed to be a hair cut, it had to be a trim. So the rebranding has definitely worked.

3. Change
Change can be a difficult and scary thing to deal with for people on the autism spectrum, and hair cuts bring change. They bring change in how your hair looks, and they can also bring changes to established routines. To help minimize the impact of the latter, we're using a visual schedule (which we started reviewing together this past night). 

We're also making sure that this is coming on a day relatively free of change earlier in the day. Last time I made a mistake in assuming since a change earlier in the day had been dealt with well, we were still fine to deal with the trim. I was wrong. Dealing with change and sensory problems and other issues isn't just something that gets taken bit by bit. It's a cumulative effect. So though he'd done well with the change earlier in the day, that left him with less energy left over for coping for our big change in the afternoon.

So that should hopefully help explain the reason that haircuts can be so difficult, and what we're doing to help minimize these issues. Oh, you guys, I am so nervous for him (as I always am with these haircuts - I know how rough they are on him). I really, really hope it goes well and we can continue down our road to successful, non-traumatic hair cuts. *crosses fingers* Wish us luck!

-Creigh



Update: It did not go well, and so we decided to try the cut again a different day in a different location (in the hairdresser's home instead of in the salon - even when you think you have everything covered, there's always one variable you fail to account for and that was it...). 
2 Comments
Jade
4/25/2016 04:09:41 pm

I'm glad you mentioned "trim" vs "cut". It's something I've mentioned to several parents and caregivers of even neuro-typical children. The kid logic: cuts (such as on the skin) HURT and are scary. But trimming is (comparatively) easy-peasy!

Reply
Ryan
1/22/2017 07:57:20 pm

I have a 7 year old on the spectrum. He can not stand getting hair cuts. I have never been able to figure out what truly triggers his fear, but he knows when we pull in the parking lot what's going to happen. I feel bad because I have to trick him to go, but my wife would never take him. I tried taking him to a place that advertised kids cuts and they were no better than anyone else at getting him to relax.

1 time, I took him and he didn't cry, but I can't figure out why he was calm and relaxed. I wonder if it was the lady cutting his hair as opposed to any other triggers...

Reply



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    About Creigh

    I'm a college student who grew up with my Autistic younger sister, Caley. I've got a bachelor's degree in Psychology and I'm currently studying for my Master's in Speech Language Pathology.

    Neither of those, however, have given me an understanding of autism. All of my understanding comes from learning from the many autistic people that I know. As a result, I have a very different outlook on autism than most, and a burning desire to tell the world what I've learned. This blog is one of the many areas in which I attempt to do that.


    *Note, none of these make me a professional, so advice I give is not professional advice.

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