The First Haircut for Baby: It Really Had to Happen!

Ooh, was I ever in denial that our baby needed a haircut! I loved playing with Devi’s soft mullet curls, and thought his long bangs looked stylish and fashion-forward. “No way our little guy needs a haircut,” I scoffed. “I mean, he’s ONLY fourteen months old!”

(Note: Devi is now 22 months old, but I just found these photos and decided this story needed to be told. Just like that first haircut… better late than never!)

Finally, my husband (the fashion director of our parenting team) mussed Devi’s hair as shown in the photo below, and declared, “Just LOOK at this mop. It’s a mess! We need to clean it up.”

I subsequently spent the next bunch of days asking people and searching online about HOW exactly to cut the hair of a squirmy-as-heck little cutie. Maybe some people will find this article doing that same search! The consensus seemed to be that a haircut around the age of one year was a good thing, and one could either do it at home, or ask a barber.

We opted for the barber route, and I’m glad we did. We bopped down to the local hair cuttery where Colin gets his own mane coiffed and asked the burly barber whether he’d give an infant his first haircut. He beamed and declared, “Yes! I’ll do the baby’s haircut now. Put him here!”

He plopped a wooden board across one chair’s arm and placed Devi on top, tying a black cape around him. Colin crouched on the hairy floor below to steady the sweetie. Devi gaped at the camera in confusion.

The barber was a pro. He snipped and snooped deftly and with speed, knowing there were only minutes to work before the meltdown occurred. Kindly, the barber piled all the blond curls into a mound on a paper towel, barking, “Take these home and keep them.” They are now awkwardly sitting on our TV stand until we figure out where, exactly, one stores old baby hair.

What a difference that haircut made! Devi became even more dapper than this proud mommy could imagine, and was elected president of his daycare class. Just joking — but he sure does look good!

In sum, if you’re on the fence about getting your child his or her first professional haircut, go for it! I’m glad we did. Now what do we do with this pile of snipped baby curls???

What have been YOUR experiences with first haircuts? Do share!