{"id":31936,"date":"2025-06-01T11:15:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T09:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/my-little-salon.local\/non-classe\/a-saturday-at-the-hairdressers-with-the-kids\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T11:15:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T09:15:55","slug":"a-saturday-at-the-hairdressers-with-the-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/blog\/a-saturday-at-the-hairdressers-with-the-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"A Saturday at the Hairdresser&#8217;s\u2026 with the Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Claire, I&#8217;m 45. A full-time employee Monday to Friday, a wife and a full-time mom, my life is a marathon with no finish line. Boredom? I&#8217;ve never met it.<br \/>Today is Saturday. Officially a day off, and yet, at 10am, I have an appointment at the hairdresser&#8217;s. Not for me (let&#8217;s be realistic) but for my 3 kids, like every school holiday, when their haircuts start looking more like manga characters than civilized young people, and their eyesight gets blocked by a greasy mop of hair.<br \/>With my husband working weekends, the day runs like clockwork.<br \/>At 7:30am, I drag Arthur, 6, out of his sleep, and while he eats his cereal I power through the online grocery order, juggling deals and fridge stock levels. A quick wash, a mandatory stop at a parcel locker to pick up a package, a strategic stop at the bakery, then the corner shop for whatever I forgot. Back home, I hope to find Emma, 13, up and dressed, before welcoming the eldest, L\u00e9o, 15, back from his boarding school at a vocational high school.<\/p>\n<p>Going to a hair salon, that den which should honestly be classified as a risk zone, isn&#8217;t the most pleasant thing. Going with 3 kids \u2014 one going through heartbreak, another going through a teenage phase complete with silent rebellion \u2014 is an Olympic feat.<br \/>It&#8217;s 9:30am, everyone&#8217;s in the car. Well, except doudou. Arthur screams and I turn back to grab the sacred stuffed animal without which nothing is possible, and &#8220;off we go!&#8221;<br \/>Like every Saturday morning downtown, the streets are jammed with traffic. No parking spots to be found, honking horns, stressed drivers \u2014 despite all my efforts not to be late, I&#8217;ll certainly be late.<br \/>On foot, the expedition isn&#8217;t much more pleasant since it&#8217;s raining and there&#8217;s still one more trial ahead: the parking meter. &#8220;1 hour? 2 hours? Maybe 3?&#8230; 4 hours to be safe?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-370x247.jpg 370w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-840x560.jpg 840w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-410x273.jpg 410w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/samedi-chez-le-coiffeur-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We finally step through the salon door \u2014 or should I say, into a parallel universe \u2014 where the buzzing of hairdryers, the smell of hairspray, and overlapping conversations blend together, and where everyone seems too busy to notice us.<br \/>&#8211; &#8220;Excuse me!&#8230; Hello, I booked for 3 kids&#8217; haircuts.&#8221;<br \/>&#8211; &#8220;Hello ma&#8217;am, that&#8217;ll be 2 kids&#8217; cuts and one men&#8217;s cut, since the eldest is over 14.&#8221;<br \/>A forgotten detail. L\u00e9o has officially crossed over to the dark side \u2014 adult pricing.<\/p>\n<p>L\u00e9o heads straight to the shampoo station while Arthur, Emma and I wait on the famous faux-leather chairs. It&#8217;s already 11am. Emma is called up next and asks me to make absolutely sure they know it&#8217;s &#8220;just a trim, okay!&#8221; \u2014 as if my ability to relay that instruction determined the fate of her entire social life.<br \/>Arthur, meanwhile, starts fidgeting. Impatience shows in his every move.<br \/>Then, in a panicked whisper, &#8220;Mommy, I need to pee!&#8221; he tells me in my ear. I try to sneak off with him discreetly to the back of the salon where the bathroom is, which has been occupied for over 10 minutes.<br \/>And finally, it&#8217;s his turn. I try to motivate him with some ingenuity: &#8220;Keep your head nice and straight, like a superhero who has to stay still on a secret mission.&#8221;<br \/>The salon manager warns me that a young apprentice will be taking care of him, that he&#8217;s patient with kids. I cross my fingers.<\/p>\n<p>12:00pm, L\u00e9o reappears with his new haircut and Emma comes out of the shampoo-and-treatment station, while I flip through a magazine and start to find the time really dragging.<br \/>And I suddenly realize that Arthur, still in the chair, has abnormally short hair. Very short. I forgot to give instructions, distracted by my trip out of the salon to feed the parking meter.<br \/>The apprentice explains that he was moving too much to cut with scissors, so he used the clippers. Goodbye golden curls, hello military cut.<\/p>\n<p>1:30pm, mission accomplished! 3 kids, freshly groomed. I ask the traditional question, &#8220;So, do you like it?&#8221; with the optimism of a mother who already knows she&#8217;ll only get the truth once outside.<br \/>At the till, I&#8217;m offered a hair treatment for Emma&#8217;s &#8220;too dry&#8221; hair. I&#8217;m too polite (or too tired) to refuse, and my wallet gets 30 euros lighter.<\/p>\n<p>We finally head home. My phone rings a few moments later \u2014 the grocery delivery driver is at the house, and has been waiting for 15 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>In short\u2026 I took my kids to the hairdresser&#8217;s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My name is Claire, I&#8217;m 45. A full-time employee Monday to Friday, a wife and a full-time mom, my life is a marathon with no finish line. Boredom? I&#8217;ve never&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[204,136,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-non-classe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mylittlesalon.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}