There's been much ado in my house in the past few weeks about a certain just-turned-6-year-old's hair. Kiddo wants to grow it out like Rapunzel. I'd like to run a brush through it daily without hitting on split ends. We could keep on fighting, but at the end of the day, I'm taking the Courteney Cox approach to hair for the elementary set.
The Friends star was spotted out and about with her own birthday girl, daughter Coco, at a hair salon, where the 7-year-old had blue and purple highlights streaked into her brown 'do. The Daily Mail took its expected thwacks at the actress for treating her 7-year-old like a teenager, but I'd like to give Cox two giant thumbs up from the parenting world for a refreshing dose of reality. Repeat after me folks. It ... is ... just ... hair. It's NOT worth fighting about.
Aside from the dangerous (I was once asked if I dyed my infant's hair blond -- that would be a negative, you ninnies), there's little about the locks that can really get me going. So you want to grow it out? Great. Want to cut it off? Go for it. Otherwise? I'm with Cox ... let your freak flag fly little one.
We have ground rules in our house, sure. It has to be kept clean, reasonably neat, and for cripes' sake, will you STOP chewing on it? But bad cuts grow out. Scary colors can be snipped out. Even a hunk of gum can be fixed. The beauty of hair is that it's one of the body's few renewable resources.
A tattoo is going to mark their body forever and really should be limited to adulthood, when you can weigh out how it will feel to present the boss with a forehead that reads "F--k the establishment." Piercings can scar, and when it comes to beauty treatments, I'll direct you back to "aside from the dangerous" because the regulation of the "kiddie cosmetics" industry absolutely terrifies me.
So what does that leave? Hair. They can wear it up. They can wear it down. They can shave it down to the skin or stop cutting it for two years. And provided they stick to the basic: keep it clean and neat (and OUT OF THE MOUTH because I have found pictures of those kids with hairballs in their stomachs on the Internet, and it's not pretty), life goes on. By next week, the dye is lightening. The mohawk is growing out.
Whatever it is, they don't change our kids on the inside. Those split ends sure don't mean my kid is falling to pieces, so I'm betting Coco Arquette isn't suddenly acting like a teenager with that dyed hair.
Do you care what happens with your kids' hair, provided it's neat and clean? Are purple highlights really such a big deal?
Image via Splash News
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Comments 16
I don't care. Heck I would like to rock pink and purple highlights (lack of funds and my sister's wedding in a few months being all that is stopping me!) My son rocks a mohawk that we use different colored spiking glue in to fit his moods! My daughter likes her hair shorter. I'd prefer it a bit longer but it makes her happy and is easier to brush, so whatever. Hair is not a big deal and SO not worth the fight, especially as they get older.
If hair color and style is your only problem, count yourself lucky. Don't sweat the small stuff and pick your battles very carefully. Hair returns to normal and it's just not worth it. Plus, it's summer vacation. I think it's fun.
That's silly. My girl is 5 and she wants her hair to be whatever color I choose for that month. I don't dye my whole head, just some cool streaks. This summer it's bubblegum Pink. Did mine today and my girl wants hers tomorrow. She's had blue, red, purple and pink. It's cute and not permanent. Have fun with it. The mom's that are sticks in the mud about small fun things like that are the ones who's kids come home all jacked up. I have 8 tats and my girl wants some too. There's tasteful ways to do anything. HAVE FUN!!
I let me my daughter get blue highlights when she was 7. It's just hair! She even chopped it short like Rhianna, which looked totally cute on her, and it grows back. There are things much worse than dying hair to worry about. Let your kids have a little freedom to find who they are and what sparks them. If not, when our kids become teenagers them may go extreme because they were suffocated so bad.
Nah. I agree with the author - It's only color in the hair and not a tatoo or piercing. My son grew his hair for a year and I LOATHED it - but never said anything because 1) it is his hair 2) he is a teenager and they somehow figure out what their parents hate the most and adopt it into their wardrobe or look and 3) if I told him how much I hated it, it would only encourage him to keep it or up the ante. The moral of the story: He soon grew tired of it and is now sporting a nice, short haircut! Without Mom forcing him into the barber chair. And if he wanted to dye his hair blue, he could go ahead and do that - as long as he keeps up his grades and is respectful and kind to others, that is all that matters.
I agree with the author (and these comments). I love putting fun colors in my hair too. I'm not working right now and it's summer so I'm rocking some pink peek-a-boos in my hair. I love it. My daughter can do pretty much whatever she wants to her hair (but lets stay away from any permanent dye for as long as possible). I'll save my mommy freak-outs for more important issues.
My daughter's always been allowed to have her hair dyed, but not bleached. Children's hair is not like adult's hair and bleaching just isn't good for it, period. I dye my hair all sorts of colors, but Chibi chooses not to, at the moment.
My mom always had crazy rules about everything. And most of all I hated that I couldn't dye my hair. She told me I couldn't until I was 18, but she gave in after the Senior pictures in High School. To be honest, if she had just let me do it, I probably wouldn't have bothered. Just the fact of her telling me I couldn't made me want to do it.