Kid-Friendly Salon Also Serves Adults

Front to back, Elizabeth Kreiger, owner, and stylists Richelle Gurule and Rein Trudell stand by vehicle-shaped chairs designed for little customers at the new Pigtails & Crewcuts in Northfield.

Time was, if a child needed a haircut, they were taken to Dad’s barber or Mom’s salon. But one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to places that know how to deal with clients who are wiggly at best and hiding under furniture at worst.
Pigtails & Crewcuts opened mid-September, owned by Elizabeth and Bernard Kreiger and run by their son and daughter-in-law, Nate and Tanya. After seeing Nate and Tanya’s 5-year-old daughter eagerly get her hair cut at the other Colorado location, they were immediately interested in opening a franchise of their own.

Tanya is the Stapleton location’s manager and, as the mother of two young children, can relate to customers’ needs. Recalling her son’s first haircut, which included a lot of flailing and hair all over her, she understands how tough it can be. “We know, as a parent, you’re more embarrassed than anyone else is,” she says. “We reassure the parents that their child is not the only kid who does this.”

Pigtails & Crewcuts is designed to make the haircut experience as easy and pleasant as possible. With a mix of standard chairs along with chairs that look like automobiles and airplanes for little ones, the salon serves children and adults. Kid-friendly movies play at each station and there are lollipops and animal crackers as pre-haircut incentives or post-haircut rewards, depending on what the situation calls for.

When kids are having a hard time, the staff encourages them to hang out, sometimes playing with them at the train table or blowing bubbles to help them become more comfortable with the stylist and the salon. Sometimes, families go for a walk or go home and come back another time with no charge for trying again.

Pigtails & Crewcuts offers hair products, accessories and themed birthday parties in a separate party and craft room.