Cookie Cutters Haircuts For Kids Opens In Kennesaw

KENNESAW, GA — If your kids can't stand haircuts, how do you make them tolerable? It's simple: give them a playground, show some kids' movies on Netflix and put them in a Spiderman car for their cut.

Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids is open for business in Kennesaw. The franchise owners, Grace and Las Small, hail from Jamaica. They moved into Cobb County in 1997 and have been here ever since.

"As parents ourselves, we are very familiar with the anxiety associated with children’s haircuts and are excited to own a business that makes the experience fun for kids and stress-free for parents,” Grace, 58, who has three kids, said in a press release. "[We] look forward to helping the community discover how much fun a children's haircut can actually be."

Grace said that parents have had to pull their kids out kicking and screaming. "It's fun for them to be here!" she said in an interview with Patch.

Grace and her family moved to the United States for better opportunities. At the time, Jamaica's population was about 3 million. "There's not much to do if you want to keep progressing. There, the options are more limited."

They landed in East Cobb largely because of the quality of the schools. They found an apartment, filled it with furniture and bought a minivan.

The transition wasn't perfectly smooth. When they arrived in the States, Grace said, each of their three kids were the only African-American kids in their classes. "That was a challenge for them," she said, and an immense culture shock.

Another cultural difference is the importance of time. In the Caribbean, she said, if you show up a few minutes late, you're on time. But here in America, "I have to be sure to pick my kids up from practice on time, because if I'm five minutes late, they'll be the only ones there with the coach," she said.

After two years in their East Cobb apartment, the Smalls decided to move into West Cobb and buy a house.

Grace left her job at IBM to move into entrepreneurship. “I knew I was going to leave IBM at some point, having been there for 33 years... I wanted to be proactive about what my next career would be. I wasn’t going back to corporate America,” she said.

"I do not cut hair. I’m not interested in being a stylist. I’m just interested in owning and running a business," she said, noting that from the start, she's wanted to work with kids.

"Our goal is to provide all children, including those with special needs or sensory issues, with an enjoyable experience, pleasant memories and the desire to keep coming back," Grace said.

Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids in Kennesaw, located at 1615 Ridenour Blvd., is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

For more information on Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids, you can visit their website or call 678-903-8140.

Article images provided by Franchise Elevator