Why we travel 530 miles so our son can have a haircut

"We've gone from dreading a haircut, not knowing what he would be like, to him loving going there," he says.

"Initially, we had to hold him on the chair but now he will sit down - that's the trust he has built up with Caroline over the years.

"We are eternally grateful for her."

Before finding Caroline eight years ago, some hairdressers - according to Gary - were too "terrified to go near" Oliver's hair because he might catch them with a flailing arm or leg.

But now, "he sits down, runs around a little bit, takes his top off as he doesn't want hair on his clothes, and then sits down," Gary says.

"It's absolutely beautiful to see, and now he asks when his next haircut is and puts it in the diary."

Hayley Ingram, 43, of North Cove in Suffolk, has taken her son Noah to the salon since he was five.

Noah, 13, has severe non-verbal autism and sensory processing disorder.

"Noah doesn't take to many people, but he took to Caroline - she just makes him forget that he's having a haircut," Hayley says.

"We've been going every six weeks since, and he now goes into the big salon. If you'd have said that when he was five, I'd have never believed it."

Before, the teenager "could not tolerate" being in a hair salon.

"Life with a disabled child can be so stressful and haircuts used to be one of those big stresses," Hayley adds.

"The noises were too much, the environment was too much, and we'd have to leave.

"But now there's no fear, no anxiety; it's just a lovely experience."

In the UK, more than one in 100 people have autism and there are at least 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK, according to the National Autistic Society.

Children and young people who are on the autism spectrum often find getting a haircut distressing, due to it being a highly sensory experience, they say.

Caroline said she became more understanding after her own daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy at the age of six.

"Me and these parents, we've been through so much, and there are a lot of tears, because sometimes it can take years before [their children] sit in that chair," she says.

"So, to have that child give you a hug, a kiss, or a high five is the most amazing feeling."

Between January and the end of April, Caroline, who has ADHD, carried out 284 sensory haircuts - but the Sensory Studio isn't just for children.

She has also opened The Eden Room, a separate area for anxious clients of all ages.

"There are actually a lot of ladies who really struggle with getting their hair cut," she adds.

The salon has been nominated for a National Diversity Award and, Caroline says, hairdressers are "thinking more about how to make their salons more neurodiverse friendly".

She says: "I'm hoping to open up a barber academy and do courses from here.

"Hopefully over the next year I can realise some of those dreams to raise that awareness."

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