The owners of a salon that caused an uproar on Facebook over its tough stance on misbehaving children says they're not surprised by the response.
But Ritchyrd and Jess Hirst are sticking to their guns, saying after 24 years of broken tools, snot rubbed into chairs and vomiting, enough is enough.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Bucklands Beach's HAiR Salon said, from now on, children's cuts will cost the same as adults - and if they screamed or used the salon "as a playground", their parents will be charged even more.
The post said any parents who have a problem with it should "call 0800 parent helpline", triggering hundreds of comments, both positive and negative.
In an email, the Hirsts told Newshub as parents themselves, they "know it can be tough taking children out especially into a professional, mainly adult environment".
"But our side of the story is, after 24 years of hairdressing our tools have been dropped and broken, scissors chipped magazines ripped, Eftpos machine used as a toy.
"Screaming kids through the salon [play] on our stools which break the wheels and smacking into the walls damaging the paint work, falling head first onto the floor. Snot rubbed into our chairs, dirty fingers rubbed into our windows and mirrors, and food smeared on the floor. Slipping on hair running through the salon. Kids coming in screaming not wanting a haircut, vomiting and we're left with the mess to clean up.
"All this while the parent or guardian sits there on their phone while we're struggling, trying to cut [their] sibling's hair."
They say kids' cuts actually take more time and effort than adults', and they're more likely to damage expensive equipment.
"We try our hardest by distracting any child in our chair with laughter and fun. But we can only do this long enough until the child loses it and we need help from their parent or guardian… We genuinely see no problem with covering our extra cost for this."
As for the numerous comments HAiR Salon's uncompromising stance will lose them business, the Hirsts say they're afraid of losing "valued customers coming to us for a relaxing experience".
"We're not surprised by the negative comments from our post, people do tend to focus on more the negative these days. You will notice not many people have paid much attention to our random act of kindness post that we put up. All the good positive acts of kindness we do go totally unnoticed. And of course no one will understand until they have experienced this for themselves anyway."
For parents willing to spend $90 on a haircut for their children, HAiR Salon says they're still welcome to bring them along - just keep them in line, or the cost could reach triple-figures.
Newshub.
