Why would you travel 530 miles for a haircut?<\/p>\n
For Al Nicolau and his wife, Ramona, the answer is simple.<\/p>\n
They do it for their son.<\/p>\n
Seven-year-old Alex, who is autistic, dreaded a trip to the hairdressers, \u00ab\u00a0shaking and jerking\u00a0\u00bb whenever he needed a trim and fearing the noisy environment of chatter and dryers.<\/p>\n
His parents Al and Ramona Nicolau discovered the Blade Inclusive Salon, in Lowestoft, Suffolk, which specialises in haircuts for clients with neurodivergent needs.<\/p>\n
Despite moving from Norfolk to Aberdeen in Scotland in 2022, they still make the 530-mile trip to Suffolk four times a year – coinciding with visits to grandad – so Alex can have his hair cut at Blade.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We pop down at Easter, in the summer, in October, and we pop there at Christmas time,\u00a0\u00bb says Al, whose son used to be non-verbal.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It works so well and he’s so calm. He actually wants to go there for his haircut, whereas up this way we haven’t found anywhere quite as good.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Other places can be a bit of a fight and battle – but the sensory room at Blade has made a massive difference.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The Blade Inclusive Salon, owned by Caroline Parnis, has been operating for almost 20 years. She created The Sensory Studio within it about seven years ago.<\/p>\n
The space includes fidget toys, cars, animals, books and projections on the wall.<\/p>\n
She says the idea was to create a relaxing environment away from the overwhelming main shop floor – to put those with additional needs at ease.<\/p>\n
Her customers now travel from Kent, Norwich and Bury St Edmunds, Dartford, King’s Lynn and, of course, Aberdeen.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s not just the haircut, it’s the sensory issue of the hair falling on them and the gown, and using clippers is also a big thing,\u00a0\u00bb Caroline adds.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I tend to start off with the scissors and then hopefully we can progress \u2013 it’s about trying to build that relationship and trust with someone.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The clients always normally have come from a very traumatic experience [of having their hair cut], so it is about breaking those barriers down.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Where Alex previously had a \u00ab\u00a0meltdown\u00a0\u00bb during haircuts, he now enjoys them.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0If he gets upset, oversensitive, or overstimulated, he could walk off with half a haircut, which then looks terrible,\u00a0\u00bb Al says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0But Caroline moves around as the kids move or jerk their heads and she goes with the flow – that’s the real key thing for us, plus the calming setting of her studio.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Gary Newman’s 14-year-old son Oliver is autistic and non-verbal.<\/p>\n
He says Oliver would often become overwhelmed and \u00ab\u00a0lash out\u00a0\u00bb when hairdressers tried to cut his hair.<\/p>\n
Oliver lives with his mum in Sudbury, so Gary does a 210-mile, six-hour round trip from Lowestoft every time he takes his son for a haircut, but he says it \u00ab\u00a0is 100% worth doing\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We’ve gone from dreading a haircut, not knowing what he would be like, to him loving going there,\u00a0\u00bb he says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Initially, we had to hold him on the chair but now he will sit down – that’s the trust he has built up with Caroline over the years.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are eternally grateful for her.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Before finding Caroline eight years ago, some hairdressers – according to Gary – were too \u00ab\u00a0terrified to go near\u00a0\u00bb Oliver’s hair because he might catch them with a flailing arm or leg.<\/p>\n
But now, \u00ab\u00a0he sits down, runs around a little bit, takes his top off as he doesn’t want hair on his clothes, and then sits down,\u00a0\u00bb Gary says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It’s absolutely beautiful to see, and now he asks when his next haircut is and puts it in the diary.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Hayley Ingram, 43, of North Cove in Suffolk, has taken her son Noah to the salon since he was five.<\/p>\n
Noah, 13, has severe non-verbal autism and sensory processing disorder.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Noah doesn’t take to many people, but he took to Caroline – she just makes him forget that he’s having a haircut,\u00a0\u00bb Hayley says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We’ve been going every six weeks since, and he now goes into the big salon. If you’d have said that when he was five, I’d have never believed it.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Before, the teenager \u00ab\u00a0could not tolerate\u00a0\u00bb being in a hair salon.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Life with a disabled child can be so stressful and haircuts used to be one of those big stresses,\u00a0\u00bb Hayley adds.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The noises were too much, the environment was too much, and we’d have to leave.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0But now there’s no fear, no anxiety; it’s just a lovely experience.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
In the UK, more than one in 100 people have autism and there are at least 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK, according to the National Autistic Society.<\/p>\n
Children and young people who are on the autism spectrum often find getting a haircut distressing, due to it being a highly sensory experience, they say.<\/p>\n
Caroline said she became more understanding after her own daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy at the age of six.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Me and these parents, we’ve been through so much, and there are a lot of tears, because sometimes it can take years before [their children] sit in that chair,\u00a0\u00bb she says.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0So, to have that child give you a hug, a kiss, or a high five is the most amazing feeling.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Between January and the end of April, Caroline, who has ADHD, carried out 284 sensory haircuts – but the Sensory Studio isn’t just for children.<\/p>\n
She has also opened The Eden Room, a separate area for anxious clients of all ages.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0There are actually a lot of ladies who really struggle with getting their hair cut,\u00a0\u00bb she adds.<\/p>\n
The salon has been nominated for a National Diversity Award and, Caroline says, hairdressers are \u00ab\u00a0thinking more about how to make their salons more neurodiverse friendly\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
She says: \u00ab\u00a0I’m hoping to open up a barber academy and do courses from here.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Hopefully over the next year I can realise some of those dreams to raise that awareness.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Do you have a story suggestion for Suffolk? Contact us below.<\/p>\n
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why would you travel 530 miles for a haircut? For Al Nicolau and his wife, Ramona, the answer is simple. They do it for their son. Seven-year-old Alex, who is autistic, dreaded a trip to the hairdressers, \u00ab\u00a0shaking and jerking\u00a0\u00bb whenever he needed a trim and fearing the noisy environment of chatter and dryers. His […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}