A waste of space! (Clippasafe Shampoo Shield)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Clippasafe Shampoo Shield
Date:	30/06/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A nice colour.......

Disadvantages: The product just didn't work for us

My granddaughter hates having her hair washed, a problem that is compounded by the strange way her hair seems to be growing at the moment. She has quite long hair for her age and size, it's now halfway down her back and her mum has had to have a fringe cut in as the front of her hair grows quite low down her forehead.

The fact that her hair grows at different angles and is now a mixture of fine baby hair and more robust 'proper' hair makes rinsing a real struggle as the water seems to naturally run down the oddly growing hairs straight onto her face. We use Johnson's Baby Shampoo so as not to hurt her eyes but like many young children she panics when the water starts getting near her face, and this is why I originally bought the Clipasafe Shampoo Shield from Mothercare.

In theory it's a very good idea. The picture above is an accurate representation of the Shampoo Shield, although I believe they are available in different colours - I have the blue one above which is attractive to look at being slightly brighter than it appears in the photograph. The idea is you fit this onto the baby/toddler's head like one of those visor caps which were so popular some years ago, make sure that all the hair is pulled through the hole and then you'll be able to give it a good shampoo without the water running down your little ones face.

In practice it's not so good. For a start the fact that the hole needs to fit snugly onto the child's head means it's very tight to pull on, my granddaughter howled in distress the first time I used it because it's such a tight fit that it ended up tugging at her hair as I was trying to pull it all through ready for washing.

Then there's the fact that this 'one size fits all' product actually doesn't fit terribly well at all. My granddaughter is now two years old and there are gaps towards the front of her head which simply doesn't stop the water coming through. Admittedly there are only a few runs but this is a few too many when you are trying to wash the hair of a young child who is petrified of the water going on her face.

As I mentioned, it's a tight fit around the head generally but it doesn't mould itself to the contours of my granddaughter's head as well as I was hoping, she's fairly dainty at two but this cannot be the reason as it's suitable for babies from a very young age and I can't see that it would fit at all well.

So no, it doesn't work in my opinion and that's a shame. I remember when my eldest was a baby (some 30 odd years ago) there was a similar product on the market which was basically a plastic disc that I had to tie around her head with a long rubbery lace. It was as ugly as it sounds (and in appalling 70's orange!) but it worked a treat from when she was newly born right up until she was around 3 years old.

Oh well, it looks like my granddaughter is just going to have to get used to getting water in her face - and Nanny is going to have to get used to the screams!

Summary: Quote from sensitive son-in-law: "Just throw a bit of water in her face and she'll get used to it"!