To think that calling hair 'mousy' is an insult, not a description of the colour

[JustT]

My daughter has beautiful long hair that I call 'golden brown'. It was blonde as a baby but has got darker as she's got older and she's now 8. She's always been really happy with her hair colour and I'm pleased because I remember my own mum putting lemon juice and 'sun-in' in my hair when I was a kid to desperately try and keep it blonde for longer. I want my daughter to be happy with her hair as it is. So I was a bit upset when she was having her hair cut last week and the hairdresser said that her hair was 'mousy'. This doesn't sound like a colour to me, it actually sounds like an insult and a way of saying that it is an unattractive colour. Since then my daughter's actually said that she doesn't like having 'mousy' hair and that it isn't a nice colour. I'm so upset as she's never expressed this before and I want her to have confidence in her appearance. Not sure what to do now or whether to speak to the hairdresser about it. Surely she should know that this isn't a nice way to describe a little girl's hair, or even a neutral description of colour. It's an insult right?

It doesn't mean 'boring'. If you hear 'mousy' and think 'boring', that is a connotation that you are attaching to the word. It just means the shade of mouse fur.

Nobody says "you have lovely mousey hair" - it is not a compliment and it borders on being a mild insult.

Peng not true. I've read it as a description for personality many times.

It's not a compliment. I bet those saying it isn't a negative descriptor don't have this colour themselves.

All the connotations are negative. Mice are vermin. A mousy personality is not desirable.

My hair is this shade. I think of it as 'hair' coloured hair. Standard, very common. It's been 'helped' by highlights for 20 years.

Meh. My hair is mousey. Perils of having typical English colouring, innit. Not intrinsically a bad thing. In global terms, any colour other than black is unusual.

AjasLipstick

A "mousy" personality means you behave like a mouse. "Mousy" hair means your hair is the same shade as that of a mouse.

If I say someone has an elephantine memory, that isn't the same as saying they have elephantine feet. The comparison is to an elephant, but the two comparisons don't mean the same thing.

"ImsorryTommy

No. It's a not blonde but not brown sort of inbetween description."

I agree with that.

Mousey brown is not a neutral description and has negative connotations for many people. Yanbu op.

I think mice
Are Rather Nice
They nibble things they shouldn't touch
And no one seems to like them much
But I
Think
Mice
Are Nice...

I have mousy hair and quite happy with it, I don't' see it as negative.

When I was growing up in the 50s-60s it was - well, not complimentary if not an outright insult. Come to think of it - it was definitely used as an insult to me once when a lady complimented my mother on my brother's blond hair and comiserated with my mouse brown.
Maybe its meaning has changed now, but I would never use it - why not say light/dark/medium brown? Mice come in all sorts of colours so it isn't an accurate description anyway.

As a description of colour it's bloody awful, regardless of whether it's an insult or not. Who wants anything associated with them described as 'mousey'?! I wouldn't like my hair, or anything else, described like that. It sounds wishy washy and wispy, or small and timid.

Loads of people have mousy brown hair so I think YAB a bit U. It definitely depends on tone but I would be surprised if a hairdresser said it to a child in a negative way.

I have mousey brown hair and while I think it's a perfectly good description, hairdressers usually describe it as dark blonde. It sounds more attractive, as a pp said mousey is not a description you would see on a hair dye box. I personally wouldn't make a complaint and I would just tell your DD that it's an old fashioned way of saying light brown.

I have naturally golden brown hair like the OP describes on her daughter and i hate the term "mousey." I prefer the term Brownde. (i saw it described as such in a women's magazine a couple years ago and i have referred to it that way (to myself- no one else knows what i am on about) ever since

Witchend I love that little ditty about mice. did you write it?

@GoldenChildAndIHateIt

No, I didn't write it. If I could write like that I'd be very happy!

It was one I learnt at school. I think it started.
I think mice
Are Rather Nice
Their tails are long, their ears are small
They haven't any chins at all...

May have been by Eleanor Farjeon perhaps?

My experience with having this hair colour is that grey doesn't show because of the multiple colours your hair has! Many of my friends were having to dye their hair before 50! Not us tho! Seriously I have heard it called ash brown before is that a nicer term? Or tan golden brown ...etc

Mousey here and proud.

Well, lying actually. Grey now but I was mousey and proud.

I certainly wouldn't take it as an insult, I quite like my mousy hair in fact I spent many of my younger years dying my hair, until I grew out all the dye a few years ago and people actually complimented my hair colour. Probably because my hair looks healthier in general and actually suits my complexion for a change