What to talk about

Toca Hair Salon has no pre-set rules so your child will have to set his or her own goals. At first your child will just play around with the different tools to see what they all can do. Playing around is fine and is a part of learning. However, the ability to stay focused and work toward a goal that you have set up for yourself is an important skill to learn. There are two easy things you can do to help your child:

1. Your device’s camera roll is likely to fill up with images of fantastic hair-dos that your child has taken with the in-app camera. After a few sessions, however, you might tire of the sheer quantity of fantastic hair-dos in your library. When this happens, you may want to kindly convey the message that you would rather only have pictures of those creations that your child has put a lot of work into and considers finished. Research shows that encouraging effort rather than result stimulates creativity, so you don’t have to worry about stifling your child’s inner hairdresser. On the contrary, it could help her or him stay focused.

2. Encourage the use of G.R.O. – the little bottle that grows back hair. If one makes a mistake and the hair gets cut too short it is easy to get discouraged and start all over. Ask what it was that your child intended to do and remind him or her that, unlike with real hair, a mistake can be fixed with G.R.O.

How to play

Select the tool you want to use in the bottom. You can swipe the tool section sideways to see more tools. For best results:

• Comb by dragging you finger across the root of the hair in the direction you want.
• Cut by tapping at a specific spot or swipe across to cut more hair.
• Grow hair by slowly and gently rubbing the G.R.O. lotion into the hair.
• Shave by moving your fingertip across the hair you want to remove.
• To take a photo, first select the camera and then tap anywhere on the screen. The image is saved in the camera roll of your iPhone or iPad.