Cutting edge hairstyles ready kids for school – The Reflector

As long, sun-drenched days of summer dim earlier each evening and the morning air takes on a smoky crispness, thoughts turn from inner tubes on the river to wool blankets on stadium bleachers and crackling fires in the corner stove.

For school-aged children, the season’s change means the freedom of summer vacation gives way to clean-paged notebooks and a waiting classroom.

The school experience has evolved over the years, from the slate and chalk tools of pioneer days to the high tech tablets of a modern student. But one tradition doesn’t change much over the years — the back-to-school haircut.

On a recent afternoon at The Barbers barbershop in Battle Ground, 10-year-old Kaden Coplan of Battle Ground was sitting in the barber chair. His fair golden locks were shorn close at the sides and only a little longer on top, carefully trimmed around ears and neck. He is excited to start fifth grade, he said, his first year at Tukes Valley Middle School.

He always gets the same haircut, said Coplan. And, added his mother Nancy Coplan, he’s pretty particular that it’s right.

That’s typical for the men who come in for a haircut, said stylist Florence Attebury. She’s been cutting hair at The Barbers for over nine years, where they specialize in haircuts for men of all ages.

“They’ve had the same haircut for 20 or 25 years,” she said of her typical customer. “They want it to look the same every time.”

The most popular haircut for teens is the “disconnected” haircut, said stylist Shelley Barth. It’s an uneven cut with shaved sides and hair on top left 4- to 6-inches long. Sometimes they ask for a “hard part,” or the part in the hair shaved in.

Are kids happy to come in for their haircut? “No!” laughed Barth, especially the littlest ones.

But school age kids are usually “fine with it,” said stylist Melissa Gloyd. In fact, “some even fall asleep,” she said.

Gloyd is prepared for kids who aren’t so sure about getting a haircut.

“I have a whole routine,” she said.

She has different colors of combs for them to choose from, and she lets them feel and touch everything. She hands them the water bottle and lets them squirt their own hair — or wherever else it might go. The key seemed to be giving them a sense of control and participation.

She enjoys the young children, said Gloyd.

“Kids are funny to talk to. They tell you everything,” she said with a grin.

It helps to bring a photo along of a haircut you like, said Attebury. But she added, “Keep in mind that not every hair type will look the same as the picture.”

Smaller children’s hair is finer, so stylists are careful not to cut it too short. “A two (razor) might work for Dad, but on them it looks like they have no hair,” said Attebury.

The Barbers is ready for the influx of customers in the weeks before school starts. They increase staff scheduling by a third, said manager Trisha Klement. And they try to help kids feel comfortable with the haircut routine.

A popcorn machine churns out hot, fragrant popcorn all day long, and a bucket of lollipops sits at the front counter.

And, “little kids love the massager on the back and neck,” said Klement.

As freshly shorn kids headed out the door, they looked like they walked a little taller, confident in their dapper new back-to-school look.

from Hairstylez http://cityhairstyle.xyz/cutting-edge-hairstyles-ready-kids-for-school-the-reflector/