Batavia mom Chrissie White understands what it means to be neurodivergent – when someone’s brain works differently than what is called neurotypical.

Her son, Oscar, 7, was diagnosed with autism.

“That causes a whole lot of sensory issues – sensitivities that people don’t always understand,” she said. “Especially when you first get that diagnosis. You don’t understand it, as a parent.”

She does now.

Haircuts were one of Oscar’s sensory issues.

“He did not like the spray bottle, the sound of the clippers being too loud or close to his ears,” White said. “My other son, Camerino, 9, also has autism, but he’s sensitive in a different way. He does not like the cape so tight on his neck. ... In a salon where they’re not in tune with this, they might think the kid or the parent is being fussy or difficult.”

White went to a parent network fair in Batavia, where she found different resources for children with special needs.

That’s where she learned about Pigtails & Crewcuts: Haircuts for Kids, 1318 Commons Drive, Geneva, a hair care franchise for children with special needs and sensory differences.

“The first time there ... Oscar was so scared and he was crying. I couldn’t even imagine him sitting in a chair,” White said. “At this point, he wasn’t even very verbal because he was only 3. This was one of his first haircuts. Before that we tried and were not able to go and had to bag it.”

Marylou Gonzalez and her husband were drawn to Pigtails & Crewcuts as franchisees, as they have a son and a daughter for whom haircuts were a challenge.

Gonzalez described how getting a haircut can be a terrifying experience for a child with sensory issues.

“A stranger is approaching with sharp scissors or clippers make this loud noise and it’s overwhelming and scary,” Gonzalez said. “For a child whose nervous system is already on high alert, it can lead to tantrums and avoidance.”

A former special education teacher, Gonzalez said she put her career on hold to raise her children, whom she currently homeschools.

“And to support my husband’s job, we moved to St. Charles eight years ago,” Gonzalez said. “My inspiration (for Pigtails & Crewcuts) came from a very personal place – out of necessity. My son has sensory sensitivities and haircuts were a challenge.”

Their franchise opened in January 2022.

Occupational therapist Kelly Marie Christiansen trained her stylists. She specializes in children with sensory challenges.

“Sometimes they have sensitivities to certain sounds or touch or even just the nuances of a novel environment,” Christiansen said.

Her practice, My Recess Therapy, has two locations, one at 1601 E. Main St., St. Charles and another at 2018 Larkin Ave., Elgin. They are sensory-based clinics focused on occupational, speech, physical therapy, yoga and social classes for children.

“Marylou asked me to train her stylists to help accommodate these children to be able to get haircuts without trauma,” Christiansen said. “I gave them a foundational understanding of what sensory processing is, so they would have an idea of what these children are experiencing.”

She taught them how to prepare a child for auditory or tactile input so they would not have a flight or fight response. Instead, they would create an environment where the children would feel safe, Christiansen said.

“And sometimes that means doing a haircut not in a typical way, not in a chair, but at the train table or while the child sitting on the floor,” Christiansen said.

Pigtails & Crewcuts has a table with toy trains as a calming distraction and non-traditional chairs, including one that looks like an airplane.

For Oscar, the floor worked best.

“The person who did his hair got down on the floor and sat with him and helped him get started that way,” White said. “She allowed him to sit on the floor for the haircut. She just did a lot of great stuff for him, letting him feel the spray bottle on his hands ... She was just super patient, even though he was wiggly and flapping his hands.”

Pigtails & Crewcuts also does haircuts for adults and provides other hair care services as well.

More information is available online at book.pigtailsandcrewcuts.com.