Like most 8-year-olds, David Linc would rather do anything other than go get his hair cut.
But David is more sensitive than most.
His mom says just a few months ago, just the sound of clippers set him off.
"The very first time [he got his hair cut] he kicked, screamed, and cried," said David's mom, Mindy. My husband would wrap his arms around him and we would try to cut him. I didn't know what I was doing. When he would get done, he was belted in and he had marks around his belly."
The scary reality is that David's not alone. The National Library of Medicine says up to 16% of kids are affected by sensory processing disorder which leads to traumatic haircuts.
"I knew, we knew, that our industry could do better," said Bonita Springs stylist, Kate Owens.
Doing better was the only option for Kate, who owns local salon Kate's Kuts.
"I know how to cut hair, and I know how to raise boys," said Kate. What she didn't know was how to navigate the road of autism when her son, Waylon, was diagnosed. He was held down by five people just to get his hair cut.
"They clocked seventy headbangs an hour. He was screaming, attacking me, and attacking his brother," said Kate. "I will never forget how isolated, hopeless, and sad it felt in the hard times."
After careful research, Kate developed a sensory-safe way to cut Waylon's hair.
"Sometimes it's just that little win because as parents of kids with autism and disabilities... we take a lot of losses, we really do," said Kate.
Kate is sharing the solution with more than two thousand other salons in the United States, and salons in four other countries.
"That was the reason that I got to be Waylon's mom," said Kate.
That work is well worth it to help families like Mindy and David.
"In the future hopefully, he'll sit in a chair and that's the hope is that he'll be able to get a full haircut with no problem," said Mindy.