How To Trim a Baby's Hair

  • December 5, 2007
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No matter how bald your baby is at birth, eventually you’ll find yourself washing mashed banana out of her hair after every meal. Here’s how to give her a trim.

You Will Need

  • A baby in need of a haircut
  • A high chair or seat with a restraining belt
  • A bath towel and safety pin, or two bibs
  • A spray bottle filled with water
  • A comb
  • A pair of haircutting shears or scissors
  • And a toy, book, or snack
  • Another grown-up (optional)
  • And a soft brush (optional)
How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Choose time

Step 1: Choose time

Choose a time of day when your baby is generally in good spirits and neither hungry nor tired.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Place in high chair

Step 2: Place in high chair

Place her in a high chair, or any chair with a restraining belt, and buckle her in. Pretend you’re a real hairdresser and start chatting her up as soon as she’s seated. It doesn’t matter what you say, just be upbeat and reassuring.

Some babies are more willing to sit still on a loved one’s lap. If yours is too, recruit your spouse or a friend to be the chair.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Wrap towel

Step 3: Wrap towel

Wrap the towel gently around her shoulders and pin it in place, or put the bibs on her, one facing forward and one backwards. And keep talking!

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Keep baby busy

Step 4: Keep baby busy

Hand the baby a favorite book, toy, or snack to keep her distracted and happy—and her hands busy and out of the way.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Spray & gather

Step 5: Spray & gather

Concentrate on the area most in need of a trim. Spray the hair and comb it smooth, then gather it between your index and middle fingers without bunching up the hairs.

If the baby is reluctant to have her hair spritzed and trimmed, spritz and snip your own to demonstrate that it doesn’t hurt.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Cut hair

Step 6: Cut hair

Pull the hair gently down and snip just below your fingers in one cut. Release the hair and let it spring back into place. If it’s curly hair, pull it down as far as it will go before trimming to avoid cutting it too short.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Talk & distract

Step 7: Talk & distract

Any time your baby gets fussy, hand her a new distraction. And don’t stop talking!

If she’s fussy because the cut hair is falling against her skin, brush it off with a soft, clean brush. A large makeup brush works well for this.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Clip strays

Step 8: Clip strays

Re-comb the spot you’ve trimmed and clip any stray hairs you’ve missed.

Your baby’s hysterical and you’re not done yet? Don’t torture either one of you; stop cutting and do the finishing touches while she’s asleep.

How To Trim a Baby's Hair: Trim rest of hair

Step 9: Trim rest of hair

Trim and neaten up other sections of hair in the same way. Now your baby will be prettier than ever—and you’ll be cleaning the mashed banana off the floor instead.

Babies born with hair often lose all of it during the first 6 months, but don’t worry—it grows back!

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Comments (1)

hairbeam

you have just give a nice thing for my baby hair thnx

over 2 years ago by hairbeam

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Madeleine_Miller

my hair is down to my calves

11 months ago by Madeleine_Miller

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Video is in How To With Babies (28 videos)