Brat Pack Salon

Not very impressed.. My husband has taken our son (a little under 2 1/2 y.o.) to this salon several times so far. He's said it's ok. I took my daughter (3 1/2 y.o.) to this salon for the first time today. I was not impressed. First of all, it's very commercialized and selling is the main point. The whole front of the "salon" is basically a store. With all sorts of things for sale, including chips and candy at kid-grabbing level. You can't avoid it.

Secondly, we made appointments for both of our kids at the same time. Only the stylist for my daughter wasn't ready at nearly the same time. It was another 15 minutes or so of stalling until they were ready to cut her hair. And, for parents of little ones, you know that 15 minutes of "Don't touch that." "No, you can't have that candy." can feel like forever.

When we finally did get her in the chair, I didn't like the stylist, Miss Cathy. I thought she expected way too much of my 3 1/2 year old. Kids like to wiggle around, look around, move around. That's why I pay $25 for a haircut: because these are supposedly people who like kids, who understand kids, who don't expect kids to stay still and can still do a good job with all of the above. Not so Miss Cathy. She was obviously irritated that my daughter didn't hold as still as a rock and keep her whole being focused on the DVD. She kept positioning her head again and again and again instead of just dealing with it. She kept telling my daughter to "stay still and watch (her) movie." She kept pulling her upright (hello, they have these carousel like chairs - kids naturally want to slump over), and even though she put a basket of toys in my daughter's lap, she didn't want my daughter to move her head down so she could see the toys.

She was even irritated that my daughter referred to her as "Lady" and kept correcting her.

On top of all of that, when we came home, I noticed that my daughter's hair is totally crooked. If you look at it from the back, it's at a diagonal slant.

My son seems to do well there, so we'll probably send him back since he needs haircuts more frequently and Brat Pack is close to where we live. When my daughter needs a cut again, we'll make the trek to Haircuts for Kids in the U-District on Roosevelt. Nusrat, the stylist there, is much more flexible and doesn't expect a 3 1/2 year old to sit like a stone.…