the $15 hair-cut

The last time Master C had his haircut was when Miss C was about 4 months old. During that time, I literally had to forcefully held Master C still while he brawls out loud and resisting the poor aunty (aunty salon shop at my MIL place) from trying to shave and cut his hair.

That was 6 months ago. And up till 1 - 2 months ago, Master C hair grew too long and started irritating the hell out of him as it was poking him at his ears. It sure was irritating the hell out of me and Mrs. C and MIL as Chinese New Year (CNY) is approaching and being in a traditional family, we must spot neat haircuts and new clothes during CNY. Not only was his hair long, it was getting more messy as the days go by. But now Master C is already 2 years and 6 months old and he ain't gonna let us forced him still anymore. So every visits to the barber/hairstylist would end up in vain as Master C simply refuses to even step inside the shop.

It took us numerous visits to barber/hairstylist shop until I was almost ready to declare that we shall use the very last resort! That is, to cut his hair ourselves when Master C is sleeping! I have been resisting to do so as it is actually very dangerous to do so cause he might stir around while I cut and partly I still wish to avoid the traditional pantang of not to draw on a person face or cut hair while sleeping as the soul would not be able to recognize his own face upon returning to wake up...

But luckily, we decided to try out the KIDS FRIENDLY Junior League at Suntec which is a Children's Specialty Salon. We brought Master C there during evening time and there was only 1 hairstylist/barber. They have this little DVD/VCD player for every chair and the rest of the settings are just like those Express 10 mins $10 haircuts shops. Initially, upon reaching I was told to disappear until it is done as Master C is most mischievous whenever I am around. But I managed to hang around secretly to see how Master C was tricked into letting them cut his hair. At first, the sole hairstylist was cutting the hair for another girl so Master C played with some toys. But when it was his turn, he refuses to sit on the chair, still have phobia. So Mrs. C decided to leave him alone to play and let another kid go first. Then when that kid has finished and it's Master C turn again, he quietly agreed to be placed on the chair for his haircut! The hairstylist brought out a bunch of cartoons vcds for him to choose the one he wants to view during the haircut.

$15 is abit too expensive if you compared to those neighbourhood barber/salon but as long as the hairstylist is able to get my kid to sit still and cut his hair nicely, I think it is still worth it. Actually, there is one shop in Hougang that charges $3 for small kid/babies as stated in their price chart. I immediately tried to bring Master C in but he cried the moment he recognized that it is a barber shop...

I hope we will be able to afford these $15 haircuts for Master C, and also Miss C since her elder brother has set such precedent, until they are old enough to let a cheaper barber/hairstylist cut their hair for them.