Hair Apparent

STUDIO CITY — It is a choice every parent dreads. Should we cut our children’s hair ourselves--exposing them to ridicule and low self-esteem? Or should we take them to a barbershop where they will show all creation what little self-discipline we have taught them as they scream, writhe and then break our hearts with the look that says, “How could you do this to me?”

Half Romper Room, half glamour parlor, the Yellow Balloon children’s hair salon takes some of the pressure off scissor-impaired parents. Salon manager Sabrina Feldman cuts parents’ hair at her shop, as well.

In the past five years the number of children’s barbershops and salons has grown sharply, with shops opening in cities such as Pasadena, Thousand Oaks, Tarzana and Lancaster. The Yellow Balloon, in business for 20 years, may be one of the oldest.

The kiddies salons take advantage of one of the fastest growing consumer groups in the U.S.: children under 14. That population has grown 7% from 1990 to 1995 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and it makes up about a fifth of the total U.S. population.

But parents beware. The fun doesn’t come cheap. The kiddie salons often charge as much or more for children’s haircuts as adults pay at regular salons.

In New York City, Cozy’s Cuts, for example, asks the Manhattanly price of $22 for a regular haircut.

In Los Angeles, kiddie cuts range from $12 to $20.

“You can go to one of those $10 factory places,” says the Yellow Balloon’s Feldman, “or you can come here where there are cookies at every station and balloons and candy.”