If you cut boy's hair before age 3....

catonmylap

Sun, Sep 14 2008, 8:17 am

If you cut your ds's hair before he was 3, when did you do it & did you do it yourself?

Ds finally has enough hair that he could use a trim. I feel weird cutting it since 1-he has so little altogether, 2-I don't want to screw it up 3- he's going to stand out a bit because everyone seems to have the upsherin minhag.

montrealmommy

Sun, Sep 14 2008, 8:54 am

st lift the hair straight up (away from the head) and snip a little. Most "kiddie barbers" I know of will tkae kids as little as 10-12 mo. provided they can sit and be entertained. As for how it compares to the more popular mihag - 1) I found not os many kids have "a lot" of hair at such a young age, it becomes more pronounced at around the 2yr range - and by then most of my friends knew of our minhag (I am not shy). and 2) According to our Rov upsherin is a minhag which belonged to Sephardim and Chassidim - as we are neither, I had no qualms 'not following the pack' so-to-speak.

Marion

Sun, Sep 14 2008, 11:00 am

We don't have the minhag either. DS#1 got his first haircut the day before DS#2's bris (Shabbat). He needed it badly, we just hadn't gotten to it. DH took him with him to the barber, and I'm told he was a real trouper. Just sorry he didn't bring me back a curl. My mom trimmed his bangs when we were in Toronto in the winter. I had a children's barber come to the house around Pesach, and I did it myself after 9 Av. This last time I actually left peot by accident...I was afraid to get too close to his ears. He was so fidgety I was afraid I would cut him!

Now I know better what I'm doing, and he'll get another cut before RH.

Twizzlers

Sun, Sep 14 2008, 1:51 pm

I started cutting bangs as soon as they were in his eyes. probably about 18 months. then over the summer, it seemed the longish hair was making him more sweaty so I sat him in front of a video, and my sister gave him a cute mushroom cut. I like it because its not a "yeshivish" haircut which looks non jewish without a yarmulka, but if I do decide to pin a yarmulka on top, it looks cute.

greenfire

Sun, Sep 14 2008, 2:02 pm

as with any other kiddie ... if you're gonna cut their hair you might need one person to keep their head still ... and the other person to cut ... and do so as quickly and precise as possible ... hey it grows back if there are mistakes ...

one out of 4 kids needed bangs cut - and she was a girly - but her cowlick went right in front of her eyes and being born with a head of hair we just plunged right in ...

I would probably cut a boys hair at around the age of 2 ... if you're afraid get a machine with large combs ... then you just need to fix the bangs and the side by his ears ...

mamacita

Mon, Sep 15 2008, 5:49 am

DH buzzed ds with his clippers. Talk about traumatic! I almost cried! Sad

My baby! B"H I managed to save the fluff (why I don't know, lol). It really changed the way he looked! All of a sudden it was a lighter color!

We are yekke and also don't have the minhag. Acutallly it's more accurate to say we have the minhad not to. Smile

Here in Beitar it makes us abnormal, but we are being true to the Torah of our fathers.

I'm hoping to keep it a little longer than average anyway cuz with the buzz he looked like a chassidish boy who lost his peyos, lol.

Raisin

Mon, Sep 15 2008, 6:07 am

my husband uses a machine to cut our sons hair. Also, be aware that some hairstyles are easier for when they start wearing a yarmulka. I think shorter hair has a kind of velcro effect.

mummy-bh

Mon, Sep 15 2008, 8:04 am

Raisin wrote:

I think shorter hair has a kind of velcro effect.

It certainly does - I know it's time to give my five year old a haircut when his yarmulka falls off when he's doing somersaults.

Hashem_Yaazor

Mon, Sep 15 2008, 12:32 pm

I've given both my boys haircuts; never brought them elsewhere....for younger ages, I just used scissors to trim bangs, back, sides...didn't care 100% if it was even (I tried) as it gets messed up anyway...my older son I started using a machine at 2, the younger I started at around 18 months...it's hard, they run around in the middle, so I do parts at a time over an hour or so.