Trial and Hairror

Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, 

but eventually you find a hair stylist you like. ~Author Unknown

This holds true to date in my entire career as a mom. The trip to the hair cutters were always nerve-wracking. Especially when the kids were younger. All three rendered their own versions of caterwauling on the first haircut. Whoever said that kids must have their first haircut right after the first birthday should be heavily fined. (Behind bars or burned at stake is too mean! :) Succeeding trips ranged from bribery, coercion to the downright threat of being grounded for 2 days! Grounded from tv and video games that is.

Even now, my grade school kids still produce a decent amount of feet-dragging when it comes to haircutting. My idea of short is usually a couple of inches off from their own description of the hairstyle. So it was a pleasant surprise - no, make that a big shock when they volunteered to take the dreaded excursion! 

ME: Is it my birthday?!? KIDS: No. Is is Christmas already?! Nope, just September. Did you all break the old vase on top of the hands-off shelf?!? Nah, still there. So what gives? said my perplexed self. You'll see, was the cryptic reply. And they dragged me to this new place in The Mall.

JEM Junior. Salon for Boys and Girls.
L/GF, SM City Iloilo

Kiki watching Barney while having
 a complicated layered bob cut.

Upon entering the salon, you're greeted by a mish-mash of popular toon characters decor and stuff. There are 3 kiddie-car seats for the toddlers and 5 regular barber's chair for older kids. The neat part is the small flat-screen monitors in front of the mirror. Toddlers can watch their favorite animated dvd while the older kids can play video games on PS2. Cool eh? And get this: they have a nail and body spa too! Kikay-nness to the nth degree.

They have an array of services to offer. But I only remember the haircut prices. It's 130 pesos for a regular haircut and 50 pesos for bangs only. For baby's first haircut, they offer a package of haircut +certificate +photo +1st hair snippet for 200 pesos; 295 if you want it framed. Not a bad deal for a significant milestone in baby's life. Especially as no camera and videocams are allowed inside. (I got my pics through the glass wall from outside. Legit ok? Hahaha!)

RG playing video games after his barber's cut

An amazing store I tell you! And a local-to-Iloilo brand to boot. It's a concept virtually unheard of in Iloilo City yet it fills a real need. Makes haircut episodes less of a trial and more of fun. In the past, I'm sure folks often voiced out a wish for such a kid-friendly place but it was never acted upon. Until now. Kudos to the innovative owners for their courage in treading untested waters. I hope you can also train your reception staff to be more enthusiastic in rendering service. Just a little product knowledge and gentle interaction with the kids is fine. PhD in Child Psychology not necessary. Meanwhile, I still have to find The Elusive Stylist that my hair will really like...

Live. Local. Luxuriate!