My First Haircut

By Yang Dong

  • is a UK-based author and illustrator originally from China.

  • Originally published in China in 2023.

  • 0-3 according to various websites. I believe, it can be up to 7 if you use it for storytelling.

Haircuts are scary. Parents all over the world snip tiny locks while their little ones are asleep, bribe them occasionally or just give up. Hairdressers magically snap into stand-up comedians as soon as little hairy monsters peep into their den. Yang Don created an amazing interactive board book featuring die-cuts for fingers to ‘wash’, ‘cut’, ‘comb’ and ‘style’ unruly locks.

This book is very helpful with pretend play. There can be a lot of scenarios. Firstly, I would do something encouraging. But we could read the book again after a positive hairdresser’s experience and make it more fun

Scenario 1.

Liz - a cheerful and kind hairdresser. (You)

Lewis - a 5-year-old nervous child. (Change to fit your story)

- Hiya! What’s your name, little man?

- Hello! My name is Lewis!

- Is it your first haircut?

- Yes, mummy says my hair got too tangly.

- Whoa! It is tangly. But I’m sure we will fix it. Do you fancy looking like a superhero? or maybe like your daddy? Let’s wash your hair first.

etc.

Scenario 2.

You are the hairdresser and your child is your assistant. Today, you have a very quiet and worried client Ben. You need two tiny helping hands and ask your assistant to wash Ben’s hair, comb it and even cut. So exciting!

Scenario 3.

Your child working as a hairdresser in the Deep Dark Woods. Today, you need to cut Grumble’s hair. He is a forest monster and can be sometimes silly and even rude.

- I hate haircuts!

- Oh, that’s a shame. Last time you looked so handsome after your haircut that all the forest fairies were asking for a picture with you.

- Okay. I don’t like too short though. I then look too cute and nobody is scared of me.

- Fine by me, Just a tidy-up then. You’ve got some twigs and dry leaves stuck in your hair. Shall we wash it first?

While your child is ‘washing’ Grumble’s hair you might want to try growling and roaring. What would a pleased monster sound like? It is easy to extend the game if you start picking shampoo together, talking about smells and textures.

You can also try learning how to negotiate. What if it goes like this:

- Let’s get all those twigs out of your hair.

- I want to keep them! It’s forest style.

- Okey-dokey. Can I at least take the rotten shrooms out of your hair and brush it a bit? It looks like a bird family could move in.

- A bird called Chirpy-Burpy lived there last year.

- Did he? That’s nice. So, why are you here today? Did your mummy tell you to get an appointment?

- No, it was my teacher. She said my hair is so long, I might even get nits.

I’d use this book for fun storytelling with children. The design is very simple and it makes it easy to twist the story. For example, the child in the pictures can look upset, grumpy, scared, worried, naughty, etc. You don’t have to stick with the original idea of encouraging children to go to the hairdresser’s.