Last updated: Monday May 26, 2008, EDT 8:38 AM
Julia Favaro of Demarest sits marvelously still for a 3-year-old.
Left: Ivelisse Vargas, 3, watches Dora the Explorer as stylist Sara Pakzad gives her a French braid. Photo by staff photographer Danielle Richards.
Hairstylist Sara Pakzad pats down Julia's newly shorn bob, then produces a short, fat brush half the size of the child's head. She dusts off the smiling girl and helps her out of her cloak. Julia holds her arms out to Pakzad to be picked up.
Julia "loves getting her hair done," said her mom, Christine Favaro. She fingered the small braid on her daughter's head. "She only lets Sarah do this — not me."
Julia has been getting her hair cut by Pakzad at David Alan's Cuts for Kids in Paramus for more than half of her young life. She's one of many North Jersey kids who may never experience what was once a staple of childhood: Mom's kitchen-sink bowl cuts.
These days, whether they're sporting haircuts that imitate Mommy and Daddy, or hairdos that resemble teen sensations like Hannah Montana or Zack and Cody, kids are stylin'. Along with the boom in children's clothing and products, professional hairstyling has become yet another part of the modern child's landscape. Babies as young as a few months old are getting their heads buzzed.
"The kids look good earlier and earlier nowadays," said Jennifer Bilek, founder of Get Coiffed, a Manhattan-based hairstyling business that offers in-home children's haircuts. Though most of her clientele consists of higher-income families, she believes that this is the next wave in hair styling.
"Especially in the urban areas, you can have a 6-month-old dressed to the nines. ... The whole children's industry is still in explosion."
Stylish offspring
Bilek said the attention being paid to children's hair comes part and parcel with a parental obsession to have stylish-looking offspring. And lest you think that it's just the parents, don't be fooled: Kids know exactly what they want.
Picture: Hannah Montana, aka Miley Cyrus.
"They bring pictures in, they say I want to look like him or her," said Chuck Moschetto, owner of Charlie's Kids Salon in Paramus. Idols from the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon media empires like the Jonas Brothers and the "High School Musical" characters inspire waves of pint-sized imitators.
To be sure, salons like David Alan's Cuts for Kids, owned by David Perlman, are not new: Perlman opened the child-friendly storefront 18 years ago. But kid-focused salon franchises like Snip-its have become popular in recent years: Thirty-one stores out of 60 opened between 2004 and 2005, including a Rockaway branch. Until 2002, the franchise business had only five salons.
Each Snip-its has colorful, eye-catching décor and branded characters designed by an animator, as well as a Magic Box with prizes at the end of the haircut. Stylists distract and entertain children by blowing soap bubbles, said Rockaway manager Dinah Janowski.
Recognizing that cutting kids' hair can be big business (haircuts can range from $15 to $25), salon owners are starting to cater to the younger set.
In recent years, some salons have added birthday parties to their list of services. Snip-its hosts "glamour" parties, where girls get the beauty salon treatment, then walk down a red carpet in a mini fashion show. Perlman will soon introduce "makeover" parties, where girls can get clip-on hair extensions, re-creating the Hannah Montana look.
An emphasis on fun
Kids are still kids, though, so the emphasis is on creating a fun, comfortable environment. In order to keep children seated, kid-friendly salons are usually full of distractions such as televisions, video games, toys and candy. They also try to hire stylists with an essential virtue: patience.
"Kids are scared of noises, like the [clippers]," said David Alan's stylist Philip Teresi. "They see this machine come out, and they think their heads are going to be chopped off. So I put it against my hand and show them that there's no boo-boo."
David Alan's Cuts for Kids has themed seating that suggests being on safari, or being a ballerina or baseball player. There are seats designed to look like Jeeps and even a giant stuffed giraffe. But Julia knows the best part: It comes after every haircut.
"Lollipop and balloon!" she said, walking toward the balloon station.
Ryan Balatbat of Waldwick, 2, has a different goal in mind. After his cut, he heads straight for the Thomas the Tank Engine train set. He and his older brother, 4-year-old Patrick, get haircuts every five weeks. He knows his way around David Alan's.
"My oldest son didn't get professional cuts until he was 3," said mother Kathy Balatbat, watching her son out of the corner of her eye as she stood at the cash register. "My husband used to cut it ... but here they're really 1-2-3. Both of them are done in half an hour."
E-mail: shih@northjersey.com
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