You might think your child's first trip to the salon is the cutest ever, but she won't see it that way. To her, being wrapped in a plastic cape, squirted with water, and attacked with sharp scissors by a stranger is just plain scary. "This is a peak time for stranger anxiety, and haircutting salons have lots of unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells that can upset your child," says Kori Levos Skidmore, PhD, a child psychologist in Oak Park, Illinois.