WESTMINSTER — Brett Miller remembers the ordeal of just getting his special-needs son a haircut — and how he felt a change had to be made.
“There were tears and sweat and crying and screaming,” said Miller, who took Hayden — who has sensory processing disorder — to a run-of-the-mill chain salon.
“And then the manager told us it would be best if we didn’t come back,” Miller recalled. “We were too disruptive.”
That sent Miller and his wife, Rachel, in search of a new way to cater to kids with autism and other disorders who see haircuts as a terrifying experience.
“We could see that a lot more could be done,” he said.
Nearly two years ago, they ended their quest with the local opening of Pigtails & Crewcuts, a franchise that specializes in serving special-needs kids — a customer base that, Miller suspects, is rarely targeted in the industry. Also, the Westminster salon is the only Pigtails & Crewcuts in Colorado.
“It’s a place with a very special niche, and we are filling it,” Miller said. “Sometimes there is just such a need, and then stuff like this happens.”
Staff members are picked because they want to work with kids, including those with special needs. Miller estimated that of the 1,500 haircuts performed in the shop each month, up to 75 are for special-needs children.
Each child, he said, is different — so parents are interviewed to find out the best approach to cutting hair. The staff then comes up with an approach they think will work.
Some kids need absolute quiet.
“Some kids don’t want spray water in their hair. Others don’t want the cape around their necks,” Miller said.
Stylists sometimes cut hair while the child is coloring or playing with a toy house.
“Sometimes, one stylist cuts the hair while the other plays with the child,” he said.
The shop is full of toys, games and flat-screen televisions. And if all that is too much of a distraction, parents can schedule a special time for their child’s haircut.
“We want to make the child’s stay as favorable as possible,” Miller said. “It’s not always roses, but we try.”
Lee Rosen, a Colorado State University psychology professor, said a trip to the barber or stylist would probably be a terrifying experience for a child with autism or a similar affliction.
“Someone is messing with their hair and then combing through it and cutting it,” said Rosen. “A characteristic of autism is sensory overstimulation, and a situation like that, it would be overwhelming.
“Anything anyone could do to ease that situation would be a huge help.”
Miller is a former medical-supply salesman, and his wife is a social worker. But they are now devoting all their energies to Pigtails & Crewcuts, in the Orchard Town Center at West 144th Avenue and Interstate 25.
“If someone would have told me five years ago I’d be opening a hair salon for kids with special needs, I would have called them crazy,” Miller said. “And look where I am now.”
Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com
