Do hair
The brush tugs at the scalp, hands come close to the eyes and the morning is already half gone. Many children push back not against hair itself but against the combination. The visual support below splits the task into calm steps.
♂Person combing their hair
A person in a blue top holds up two combs to their hair and combs it back from the forehead.
♂Boy brushing his hair at the mirror
A smiling boy brushes his hair with a red brush and holds a yellow hairdryer in the other hand in front of a mirror with a pump bottle and a tube on the shelf.
♂Do hair
A person combs their hair with a yellow comb while holding a red hairdryer.
♀Comb hair
A happy person with braided hair getting their hair combed and brushed by two hands with a purple comb and a green brush.
♀Do hair
A girl combing her curly hair.
♀Girl brushing her hair
A girl with long hair and a yellow clip holds a comb in one hand and a hairbrush in the other while doing her hair.
♀Girl combing long hair
Smiling as she works, a girl combs her long wavy hair with a light blue comb while holding a braid in her other hand.
About this visual support
The scalp has some of the most reactive nerves on the head, and the bristles send small jolts with every stroke. Add hands close to the face and a mirror image that moves at the same time, and hair quickly becomes the hardest part of the morning. Being in a rush on top of that practically invites resistance.
With the steps out as picture cards, the guesswork about what comes next disappears. Detangle the ends, brush from the neck up, dampen the fringe, clip in place, done. The child sees how few steps actually remain, and it is fewer than it feels in the middle of a battle at the mirror. For sensory-sensitive children the predictability often matters as much as the technique.
A concrete tip: hold the hair a few centimetres above where you brush so the pull does not reach the scalp directly. In the Routined app you can place the hair step inside the morning routine with a short timer, so the child knows the step has a far edge even when it feels long.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
More similar visual supports
Braid hair
Two hands braid the hair of a smiling girl wearing a pink shirt.
Straighten hair
A woman is straightening her hair with a flat iron.
Braid your hair
Smiling person with a braid in their hair
Ponytail
A cartoon illustration of a head in profile with a ponytail.
Style my hair
A cartoon person styling their hair with two combs.
Blow-dry hair
Person blow-drying their hair with a hairdryer
Body and hair
A boy in a blue T-shirt points one hand at his hair and the other at his body.
Brush hair
An image of a girl brushing her hair.
Take the visual supports with you
In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
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