I had a perfectly lovely experience here for my daughters first haircut! She is 3 and given the reviews I read I was on guard and prepared for the worst but I also know the bad experiences get posted and not always the good so I took a shot. The 2 stylists were very nice and when they saw my daughter they "fought" over who got to give her a cut. Julia "won" and let my baby pick out a movie and a car to sit in (she picked the train). Since my daughters hair texture is a lot like mine I gave her my thoughts on what should be done and listened to everything I said and we ended up with a beautiful cut. She then styled my girls hair with a cute side braid (which I could never ever do myself) and let her pick out a colored ribbon (green).
I will for sure come back and will probably have Julia style her hair before our next family photos are taken. We did get the first haircut keepsake as promised as well. Nothing fancy but it was nice to get it.
So for you worried moms I say give them a chance. They exceeded my expectation.