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Original poster

Is it legal to cut someone else’s hair without them knowing ?

231 replies

Lardlizard · 10/12/2020 14:12

Is this an actual crime ?

OP posts:
Retiremental · 12/12/2020 18:11

@SweetPetrichor please tell me you’re not raising kids with that attitude? Your ignorance is astounding.

ikltownofboothlehem · 12/12/2020 18:11

If anything, this could be a good lesson in not being overly attached to your hair...the number of grown adults who cry when their hair is cut - by a professional- and doesn’t look how they want it is depressing. Or the stigma of losing hair due to illness. Hair is just hair. It’s dead shit on your head. Nothing more.

So you'd be quite alright someone coming up to you in the street or in a shop and hacking at your hair with a pair of scissors? Just shrug & say 'no biggie, mate. Just dead shit on my head innit' and walk off smiling? Like bollocks you would.

Your post is also massively insensitive for people with hair loss, many from chemo. are they being 'overly attached to their hair' for being upset when it starts to fall out in clumps?

Thelnebriati · 12/12/2020 18:15

If its a one off it could be bullying; but it could also be the start of a paraphilia, which should be taken seriously because they escalate.

I'm not going to post any links because they invariably lead to cries of 'so I suppose you think every child who does X ends up doing Y?''

mbosnz · 12/12/2020 18:16

I must admit, I'm a bit Shock at someone thinking the person here that needs to be learning a lesson is the one that had her hair cut without her knowledge or consent. . .

mbosnz · 12/12/2020 18:20

I knew of a young lad who was always ripe for a bit of a lark, at a very much, old boys, old school tie, boys will be boys, sort of a school, who always managed to have the impact on him of having crossed the line mitigated by his extremely wealthy, well connected, senior partner in a top law firm, father.

I feel very sorry for the last person I know of that was recklessly injured as a result of his and his mates high jinks. He nearly died, and suffered permanent brain injury, and could no longer work to support his wife and baby daughter. Suffers siezures, as a result.

Kid was 17. Still managed to get off without a conviction, even, as Dad worked him to work the system. . .

Kaliorphic · 12/12/2020 18:21

If anything, this could be a good lesson in not being overly attached to your hair..

You sound deeply unpleasant.

ThorFull · 12/12/2020 18:25

I’m trying to think of a good reason why anyone should not be emotionally attached to their hair?!

Kaliorphic · 12/12/2020 18:30

I’m trying to think of a good reason why anyone should not be emotionally attached to their hair?!

I know. Don't get too attached to your hair in case some turd decides they want to cut it off. There really are some fucking weird illogical people that live amongst us.

SweetPetrichor · 12/12/2020 18:36

Well, I think my point stands, considering how flustered all these posters are about being emotionally attached to hair! I think you’ve just backed up the whole point. Wink
To be fair, I can see the cultural and religious reasons for being attached to hair but for the rest of us, not so much.

Maybe I am deeply unpleasant. Who knows. I think I’m doing okay, honestly. Grin

InterfectoremVulpes · 12/12/2020 18:38

We could apply that "logic" to most things.

Don't get too attached to your stuff in case someone decides to nick it. I mean, that poster has said its OK to disregard laws you don't agree with, so I'm going to ignore the laws that say don't take stuff that isn't yours.

InterfectoremVulpes · 12/12/2020 18:40

Maybe I am deeply unpleasant. Who knows.

Most who read your comments to be fair 🤷‍♀️

cansu · 12/12/2020 18:42

Phoning the police would be ridiculous. They will not investigate this as assault. Make an appointment. Speak to the head and ensure that he is given a consequence in line with what he has done.

mbosnz · 12/12/2020 18:43

Flustered? LOL, I do not think that word means what you think it means. . .

Understanding that people can be attached, both literally and emotionally, to their hair, is fairly logical. Given that it's very commonplace. That is why it is understandable that people who suffer alopaecia (sp), lose their hair as a result of male pattern baldness, or as a result of chemo, are distressed. It's not 'just hair' to them. It's part of them, part of their identity. Obviously this is something you do not identify with, and that's okay, but I'm sure there are aspects to you that make up you, that mean a lot to you, but another person might think - can't think why you care that much. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't. Just that you have different values and priorities.

And whether you care or not, nobody has the right to vandalise your person, which is what this young man did to this young woman when he hacked at her hair without her consent.

He is the one that needs to learn to keep his nasty little mitts to himself, not her, needing to learn not to care about her hair.

mbosnz · 12/12/2020 18:44

@cansu

Phoning the police would be ridiculous. They will not investigate this as assault. Make an appointment. Speak to the head and ensure that he is given a consequence in line with what he has done.
That's interesting. There's currently serving officers on this thread that have said otherwise.
Ramblingwords · 12/12/2020 18:44

It’s Actual Bodily Harm, an intrusion into her bodily space, the infliction of an injury (or even just a change if people can’t accept hair being cut as an injury) that she did not consent to.

Good on the OP for involving the police and showing her daughter that her feelings and boundaries are valid. Bodily autonomy and consent is so important for her future safety, health and self-respect.

Shame on the people here who are mums but wouldn’t take this seriously.

Kaliorphic · 12/12/2020 18:44

To be fair, I can see the cultural and religious reasons for being attached to hair but for the rest of us, not so much.

Well really you can only speak for yourself can't you. Fortunately the law doesn't agree with you.

QueefBee · 12/12/2020 18:53

Psycho logic, victim blaming. Yeah i can believe you think you are doing ok with that thinking, SweetPetrichor.

CantBeAssed · 12/12/2020 18:57

@mbosnz..
How do you know there are serving officers on this thread?Hmm

CherryValanc · 12/12/2020 18:57

"If anything, this could be a good lesson in not being overly attached to your hair...the number of grown adults who cry when their hair is cut - by a professional- and doesn’t look how they want it is depressing. Or the stigma of losing hair due to illness. Hair is just hair. It’s dead shit on your head. Nothing more."

Why does anyone need a lesson in not being attached to thier hair? But not a lesson in why it's wrong exert power over someone, change thier appearance and not to have even a crumb of understanding of consent? Why not a lesson for a 13 year old boy to actually think about actions?

Hair has meaning in our society, while it, itself is "dead" it's attached to a person's body. This "dead" argument has been rejected by High Court judges (who concluded cutting someone's hair could amount to assault causing actual bodily harm.)

mbosnz · 12/12/2020 18:59

[quote CantBeAssed]@mbosnz..
How do you know there are serving officers on this thread?Hmm[/quote]
I don't know, in that they haven't provided their credentials.

They have however, asserted themselves to be such, and seemed to know what they were talking about in terms of how such an incident would be dealt with if brought to their attention in a professional capacity.

So I'm prepared to take them at their word. Smile

nancybotwinbloom · 12/12/2020 19:49

It is assault.

I'd be fucking feewwming.

Little twat.

Is it legal to cut someone else’s hair without them knowing ?
Tehmina23 · 12/12/2020 19:51

I was assaulted twice by boys at school when I was 13.
I defended myself & never told my mum or the teachers as I felt a sense of shame, as if I was somehow to blame.

One of the lads I defended myself against went on to pester me when I was out in local pubs & clubs when I grew up.

If the police or at least senior teachers had been involved I would not have felt shame for years, or been harassed by this particular young man.

The OP has definitely done the correct thing to get angry & get the police involved.
That kind of behaviour can escalate if not stopped, plus hair holds a real significance for girls & women & it's a part of the person, so it's certainly a type of assault to cut a person's hair like that.

MrsTerryPratchett · 12/12/2020 19:59

I think there's another aspect to this. Normally someone says something bullying, or someone hits someone, the actual remnants of that fade pretty quickly. Maybe not the feelings, but the evidence.

Cutting someone's hair means that every time they look in a mirror, for quite a while, they are reminded. That's fucking horrible.

mbosnz · 12/12/2020 20:00

@MrsTerryPratchett

I think there's another aspect to this. Normally someone says something bullying, or someone hits someone, the actual remnants of that fade pretty quickly. Maybe not the feelings, but the evidence.

Cutting someone's hair means that every time they look in a mirror, for quite a while, they are reminded. That's fucking horrible.

That's a really bloody good point. I feel it's almost Oggish. . . or Weatherwaxish. . .
Retiremental · 12/12/2020 20:00

@SweetPetrichor

Well, I think my point stands, considering how flustered all these posters are about being emotionally attached to hair! I think you’ve just backed up the whole point. Wink To be fair, I can see the cultural and religious reasons for being attached to hair but for the rest of us, not so much.

Maybe I am deeply unpleasant. Who knows. I think I’m doing okay, honestly. Grin

You’re really not doing okay Wink