Hair today, $$$$ gone tomorrow...

I had my own unspoken rule that I wasn't going to cut E's hair until his first birthday. At 11 months I was still in denial thinking he had "Rob Thomas" hair. He looked totally rockstar to me. But between that 11th and 12th month, it started looking really raggedy. I still didn't think it was that bad until I got his 1 yr pictures taken and he just looked silly. We went to get a haircut the next day.

I heard there was kids place on Rt 4W. It's David Alan for Kids. http://www.davidalansalon.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&catid=39&Itemid=92.  Well, I went to David Alan as a middle-schooler for my perms. I figured it ought to be good. They have some of those cool kiddie chairs that are shaped like an airplane or car or whatever. But, she didn't put E in one of those. She put him in a regular chair with what looked like a booster box on it. He was fine actually, but if he hadn't that chair would've been a disaster. Anyway, the stylist talked a lot and mentioned that she works at the regular David Alan salon most of the time, but they rotate to the kids place. And that she'd been working there since the 80's. She knew my hairdresser from my tween years (and I'm 37). She didn't specialize in dealing with kids and it showed.

At the end I was given a snip of his hair and a certificate. Then I got the bill.

Who told people it was acceptable to charge upwards of $20 to snip some hairs off a toddler??

TWENTY-THREE dollars. Yup. That's what it cost to give a toddler a haircut. I don't think it costs that much in most places for a grown man to get cut and styled. It's not even like E got a blow-out.

That was the end of that.

I was told about Rita's Snips for Pips in Ridgewood http://www.snipsforpips.com/ so I figured I'd try there. Same racket. I will say that Ricky does a beautiful job & he's great with the kids. But, he pays very close attention to detail and I've been there 30 minutes for E's cut. It doesn't need to be a half hour's worth of perfect. Rita the owner is a sour lady. Every time I've been in there she's been in a mood/funk whatever. Let's just say she isn't Miss Personality. It IS a clean, kid-friendly environment though. Rita's has the special seats, the dvds/dvd player at each station so 4 kids could be watching 4 different things at one time. They also sell barrettes, some toys, and various other chatchkes. But the cost! I just couldn't pay that plus tip any longer when E is getting a haircut like once every 6 weeks.

Finally, the last of the kids places I knew of was Charlie's Kids Salon on Rt 4E just before the Garden State Plaza exit. http://www.nu-womensalon.com/charlieskidshome.html.  It's literally ON the exit ramp. It's that white building next to a vacant lot. I believe this place charged me $25. I got it done by Charles himself. He was nice enough, E got a great cut & they had a tv/dvr for distraction, but I'm still not paying over twenty dollars for a toddler do.

Update: We've gone to Salon Salon in Glen Rock. I think the girl who was cutting E's hair is Jodi.  I believe it was $16. Better than the typical "kid" salons. Pretty quick & definitely painless. It's on Rock Rd on the side of the street where Francesca's pizza is, so you can your kid a haircut and a slice.

While participating in Stroller Strides in Garden State Plaza, I noticed there is a walk-in hair salon on the first floor between Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor called Plaza Salon http://www.plaza-salon.com/GardenState/.  Apparently they have one in Willowbrook Mall too. They have a price board right out in front that told me kids cuts are $14! Jack-pot! Been there a bunch of times so far and all the cuts have been good and the price felt normal to me. There are no dvds and no special chairs but I don't need all that crap for a 10 min haircut. Granted, if your kid freaks when he or she gets their haircut or it's the first one, I can totally see going to the expensive place to make sure they don't get a scissor to the eye or look like Jim Carey in Dumb & Dumber. But for E's Pauly D-esque style it's a 10 min buzz and, some gel and I'm fine having no bells & whistles. We use Jeff.

I'm sure you can go to a local barber or wherever too. I just haven't investigated any further once I found Plaza Salon.