Kids’ Haircuts in District 7: What to Sort Out Before You Go

2026.08.23Hair care

A child’s haircut is rarely just a haircut. It is a small logistical problem wrapped around a larger emotional one, and both parts get harder when you have recently moved countries, the school calendar is unfamiliar, and your child is being spoken to in a language they are still learning.

We cut children’s hair as a matter of course, from first haircuts upward, and no age is too young to come and just look at the place first. Most of what makes these appointments go smoothly happens before anyone picks up a pair of scissors, and here is what tends to be worth thinking about in advance.

Timing, and why it matters more than the day

Parents in Phú Mỹ Hưng usually have a narrow set of workable slots, and the ones that work best are the ones that do not collide with a tired child.

Straight after school is the most requested time and often the worst one for younger children. A child who has held it together all day at an international school has very little patience left for sitting still in a strange chair.
Mornings suit small children. If your child still naps, before the nap tends to go better than after it. For anyone already at school that usually means a weekend morning, so it is worth asking early in the week.
Weekends are busy for everyone. If a weekend is your only option, booking further ahead gives you a choice of times rather than whatever is left.
Say a child’s age when you book. It changes how the appointment is planned, and it is more useful to us than any other single detail.

A first haircut

For a genuinely first haircut, the aim is a child who is willing to come back, not a perfect result. That reframing takes the pressure off.

Let them watch first. Bringing a small child along while a parent or older sibling is cut, with no expectation that they sit in the chair themselves, makes the room ordinary before it has to be tolerated.
Sitting on a parent’s lap is normal. Plenty of first cuts happen that way. So does standing, in some cases.
Keep the scope small. A tidy-up that gets finished is worth more than an ambitious shape that gets abandoned halfway.
Bring something familiar, a toy, a book, or a phone with something on it. This is not the appointment for a principled stand about screens.
Save the snack for afterwards. Chewing moves the head, and it is easier to work when it stays still.

When a child is frightened

Fear at the chair is common and rarely about the haircut. Usually it is one identifiable thing: the cape closing around the neck, the noise of clippers, the spray bottle, being lifted up high, seeing themselves in a large mirror, or being addressed by an adult in a language they do not follow yet.

Because it is usually one thing, it can usually be worked around. If you already know what your child dislikes, tell us at the start, not after the crying begins. Options that often help:

Scissors only, with no clippers anywhere near the appointment.
Cutting dry, or with only light spraying, instead of a trip to the shampoo bowl.
A parent in the child’s line of sight, or holding a hand, rather than sitting behind them.
Stopping early. An unfinished cut that ends calmly is a better foundation for next time than a finished one that ends badly.

None of this guarantees a quiet appointment, and some days a child is simply not going to have it. That is not a failure of preparation.

Decisions worth making before you arrive

Parents often arrive knowing they want it “shorter” and discover at the mirror that they meant something more specific. A few things to settle at home:

Describe length by where it should sit, not by an amount to remove. Above the eyebrow, clear of the ear, off the collar. That is checkable while the cut is happening.
Fringe or no fringe, and whether it needs to stay out of the eyes for school.
How it should look in a few weeks, not only on the day. Growing-out shape is a legitimate thing to ask for.
Whether your child gets a vote, and how much. Deciding that in the salon, in front of the child, tends to go badly.
Anything physical we should know: a sensitive scalp, a healing scar, sensory sensitivities, a strong cowlick, or a note from school about head lice. The last one is easier for everyone if it is mentioned when you book.

Reference photos are useful, with one caveat worth saying to your child as well as to us: a photo shows one particular head of hair, and hair type sets limits on how closely another can match it.

Bringing siblings together

Two or three children in one trip is efficient in theory and chaotic in practice unless it is planned.

Tell us how many are coming when you book. Several children is a different appointment from one, and has to be arranged as such.
Send the confident one first. A nervous younger sibling watching an older one go through it calmly is doing useful preparation.
Bring a second adult if you can, so someone is free to walk a restless child outside.
Allow more time than you think, and avoid booking it just before something with a fixed start time.

With two or three children, whatever has not been arranged in advance ends up being decided in the room, at the least convenient moment. A few extra lines in the booking message will save you most of that.

A note from emo.

If you are bringing a child for the first time, tell us their age, what they are nervous about, and how much time you have, either when you book or when you arrive. Our stylists work in several languages, which sometimes helps a child settle, and we would rather plan a shorter appointment that finishes calmly than run out of patience at the end of a long one. emo. Hair Salon is in District 7, at 14 Raymondienne in the Starhill area of Phường Tân Mỹ, near Crescent Mall and Phú Mỹ Hưng.

We speak English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean.

To book, call us or message us on Zalo. Online booking is also available, but please note the booking page is in Japanese only.

Phone: 0707 177 290
Zalo: Message us on Zalo
Online booking (Japanese only): Book via Reservia

emo. Hair Salon
14 Raymondienne, khu Starhill, phường Tân Mỹ, Quận 7, Ho Chi Minh City (near Crescent Mall, in Phú Mỹ Hưng)
Tue–Fri 9:00–19:00 (last cut 18:00) / Sat–Sun 9:00–18:30 (last cut 17:30) / Closed Mondays