My son hates haircuts so much he once threw up from the stress. We ended up purchasing a Calming Clipper kit, which has a guard like clippers but is mounted on scissors and very quiet. My wife cuts his hair gently over the course of about an hour, and he gets time on his tablet or videos while she's doing it.

My son is terrified of scissors and clippers. i cut his hair at home and it does not look great but I can always sneak in a clip here or there to fix anything that is uneven or sticking out. It is not ideal but it has to work until he is able to tolerate the sensations and noise. I have tried going to sensory sensitive kids salons but the outcome was about the same as me doing it myself, it seemed to worsen his anxiety and it was not free.

My 12-yr old nephew had always hated getting a haircut. He is Caucasion/African-American and has the most soft curly black hair I've ever seen. Can't let it get too long, though. After 2 instances of lice (ick! double ick), we've had to make sure his hair was not too long. He's never been to a commercial salon or barber. My husband does all the cutting (he cuts my hair, too). We figured out that Isaiah was really afraid of having his ears cut, so a pair of "Swix" type earmuffs, That did the trick - but I always have to have mine trimmed before his. So far, so good.

@A MyAutismTeam Member I cut my 6 year old son’s hair at home, too. I usually need someone there, to help distract my son, but it usually works out okay. I taught myself by watching YouTube videos. My older boys 16 and 13 (neurotypical) won’t let anyone else cut their hair, besides me, that makes me feel good, plus it saves $. If I can do it, anyone can do it.

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A MyAutis...

He had problems at home, I used to cut Sam hair with clippers but the buzzing would drive him mad, my wife also had to restrain him for me to cut his hair. We finally decided to use scissors and give him a 10 minute countdown, I would cut as fast as I can measuring with my fingers (my dad was a barber).so far we have been doing great. The countdown works because he knows the "torture" will be over. We still working on getting around the ears but we are doing better. We used to take him to the hair stylist three time when he was a baby, then he started hating it to the point that we just let his hair grow out.