On our last trip to the hairdresser for Little Miss Hair Helper, my attention was drawn to some shorter hairs lying over Little Miss Hair Helpers face. What I had presumed was baby hair still catching up with the rest of the length, turned out to be evidence of habit that needs to be stopped.
Little Miss Hair Helper enjoys a trip to the Hairdresser
Chewing Hair
Chewing HairThis is a habit that Little Miss Hair Helper is guilty of. Truth be told, since I’ve been a bit more vigilant, it does seem to be an unconscious habit that she has. We’ve tried our best to overcome this by making sure all the shorter hairs are clipped back well away from her mouth and face. We’ve all heard the nightmare stories of hair actually getting stuck in the gut, but this would be in very severe cases. The real and immediate concern with hair chewing is for the health of the actual hairs, as the chewing breaks the hair and gives them dry and brittle ends.
Twirling Hair
Hair Twirling while on the surface can be an innocent and self soothing habit, it can actually lead to or be an indication of more severe issues such as Trichotillomania. Persistent hair twirling, can lead to breaking the hair but if not monitored can lead to hair loss as the child can pull the hairs out completely – it can be indicative of stress and anxiety in children. This can of course lead to patches of bald scalp, and become a source of embarrassment for the child. It is worth monitoring and if it worsens, discouraging your child from twirling their hair and offering alternative self-soothing techniques. If your child does have a more severe habit of hair twirling, please do seek medical advice from your GP.
Cutting Hair
It’s not uncommon to hear of little ones, both boys and girls, taking to “self-styling” their hair. It’s certainly up there with a parent’s worst nightmare. The best thing to do is HIDE THOSE SCISSORS as best you can, and any cutting activities need to be strictly supervised…that said we all know it takes seconds for disaster to strike. Fortunately, with a visit to a hair dresser or barber, and some time the hair can recover. Has your little one ever given themselves a little trim?
For an interesting article on Baby Hair Pulling and Eating – and how to stop it, check out this blog post from Mom Loves Best.
At the end of the day we want to encourage healthy hair habits to keep their hair looking good. Take a read through some of our “Hair Raising” series to see how some other mums keep their daughters hair looking good.
Ergh I remember chewing my hair as a child, which makes me feel sick now! I really hope my daughter’s don’t pick up any of these habits 🙂
Mmm, I’d forgotten I’d chewed my hair as a child. It always seemed so tasty! No idea why. My little boy twirls his hair when he’s tired so maybe I should keep an eye on that. It does look cute though! X
He’s obviously using the twirling to self soothe, I imagine as with everything in parenting, you know your child best. I’ve seen many little ones twirling their hair as they fall asleep – it is cute!
I used to twirl my hair all the time. Thankful my mum always caught me before I cut my hair!
Thankfully my daughter has never tried to cut her own hair. She has a lot of short hairs at the front too so I’ll keep an eye out for any chewing or pulling she may be doing.
Fortunately my daughter also hasn’t cut her own hair – let’s touch ALL the wood!
I don’t remember how old I was but I took my dad’s shaver and gave myself a nice shave all the way down the middle lol.
That has got to be the worst/funniest I’ve heard! Your mum and dad must have been mortified!
Thankfully I never had any bad hair habits and my son doesn’t either. But I think my niece is developing one so will point my sister to this post. Very interesting read.
Yip it’s certainly not a habit everyone has, suppose it’s like nail biting or thumb sucking… Thanks for pointing your sister here:)
My sister cut her long blonde hair when she was younger and there was nothing my mum could do with it. I twirl my hair but didn’t know about that condition.
Gentle twirling is fine, it’s making sure that it doesn’t become more of a pulling, particularly in children
Haha, This post made my day. I always remember that I use to cute my hair especially my bangs when I was a kid.
So glad that it made you smile:)
I’ve never done anything like this with my hair but my younger brother was obsessed with twirling my mums hair around everything she picked him up when he was little. It was very cute and sweet but not sure how good it was for mums hair!xx
Your poor mum – although I can see the cute side of what your brother was doing:)
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I used to chew my hair. Yuck. And I still twiddle it. It just feels nice sometimes! Oh dear….
But I never cut my own hair, only the dollies’. Yep all those barbies that ended up with a crop. Lol!
Oh of course, I forgot about the dollies that get the chop! Rather the dollies than the child I think haha