I’m happy to say that Baby T-T seems to have inherited hair from my side of the gene pool, and I hope that this will be something he’ll be glad about in years to come, as Mr T-T tends – rather necessarily –  towards a ‘smooth all over’ look these days.

Unfortunately, this means regular trims are in order, as otherwise his beautiful thick locks tend to grow vertically, filling out as they go, and resembling a massive Russian ushanka hat after a very short period of time. Not ideal in 34 degrees and 95% humidity, I’m sure you’ll agree. Sadly for both of us, he HATES haircuts with a passion usually reserved for the courgettes that I hide in his dinner, and so the regular trim tends to get pushed back to whenever Mummy feels both physically and mentally prepared for this ordeal.

If any of this is sounding familiar, then a visit to Magic Mirror could be the answer. This kids hair salon is designed to be a place of fun for little folk while getting the tedious business of a cut out of the way quickly and painlessly. The scruffy little tykes hop up onto a selection of adapted carousel animals (complete with seatbelts to restrain them, if they’re that sort of child – mine obviously is), watch one of whole library of DVDs, play with toy trucks, trains, dolls and other goodies, and even get a sweet at the end for good behaviour. Not bad, eh? Magic Mirror offer ‘first haircut’ certificates and keepsakes, and can even trim your newborn if you’ve unexpectedly given birth to an exceedingly hairy child (again, from experience).

Baby T-T and the VERY patient Raymond

The stylists are lovely too, and despite my son’s best efforts to end up with a huge bald patch from thrashing around so much, the skilled and patient Raymond made a lovely job of his mop, expertly trimming and thinning until Baby T-T looked less like a street urchin extra from Oliver, and more like a well cared for three-year-old. His buddy H also came along for a chop and ended up with a cute cut that was over in 10 minutes flat and got the thumbs up from his mum too.

Serious boys glued to the TV

There are two locations: the original Magic Mirror at Lee Gardens in Causeway Bay, and an outpost at Olympian City 3 where we visited. The shop is quite small, so book ahead as there are only four seats available (and you don’t want to have to referee a fight when they all decide they want to sit on the zebra).

Before: stroppy. After: smart!

The only real downside here is the cost; at $350 a pop this isn’t a cheap option, so if your kid’s cut requires regular maintenance then this may be a deal breaker. We used a Smart Mama buy-one-get-one-free voucher for our visit which made this an affordable excursion and one I’d make again if there was a deal available, but at full price I’d think twice.

Overall, this is a great option for a special occasion haircut, or if you need a really good set of distractions/bribes to successfully achieve neatness in time for the new school term and avoid the dreaded bowl-and-kitchen-scissors cut.

Opening hours: Daily, 10.30am – 7pm

Causeway Bay branch: Shop 218, Windsor House, 311 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong; 2882 2118
Olympic branch: Shop G25, Olympian City 3, 1 Hoi Wang Road, Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong; 2957 8000
www.magicmirror.com.hk