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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand why people dislike buzz cuts on little boys?

364 replies

brightmonitorx2 · 28/02/2022 21:23

I did not realise this was a thing until I buzzed my 3 year olds hair in lockdown (had tried and failed to cut it so had to buzz).
My mother hated it, friends made comments. I then googled and people say it's trashy or something 🤷‍♀️
I thought it was cute and he is asking me to do it again because longer hair annoys him.
It was also way easier to bath/dry as he hates hair wash etc.

I want to do it again but so people thing it looks trashy/chavy whatever?

I know I shouldn't care what others think but I do 😬

OP posts:
HangingOver · 28/02/2022 22:53

It doesn't look chavvy on black boys

notacooldad · 28/02/2022 22:54

I think you can’t win with lads hair.
I tried to opt for a middle ground, not long but not a buzz. All going well until DS 2 wanted to grow it long when he was about 9. I let him. I got comments from other adults. My response to them after a while was ‘ hey why not tell him yourself, I’ll just go and get him’ I’d then shout for him and say ‘ hey josh, aunty Jen has something she wants to say to you’. Comments soon stopped. long hair lasted until he was year 9 or 10

Rosehugger · 28/02/2022 22:57

I've been cutting/clipping DH's hair for nearly two years now, and this thread made me look up men's hairstyles. Apparently I've been doing a "taper fade" and didn't know it (thought it was a short back and sides) Grin

Bossbaby12z · 28/02/2022 22:57

He’s 3 years old..if he’s happy with his hair cut like that then I don’t see an issue. Less stress no hairdressers, wash and towel dry happy days 😃

Thethingswedoforlove · 28/02/2022 23:02

Is buzz cut an Americanism? I wasn’t even sure what it was! But have now figured it out. I don’t feel strongly about it- it is rare to see a little boy with such short hair and if I saw it I would assume that is how he or his parents wanted it to be…..

PyongyangKipperbang · 28/02/2022 23:03

My grandmother was very vocal that girls only had short hair, and boys only had shaved heads, because of lice (she was born in 1920) so she had a real thing about growing out our hair as kids. She couldnt bear the thought that anyone might think that we had lice. She hated it when I had a pixie cut as a teenager. Daft really as actually my sister and I spent our childhood being Derbac'd because of bloody nits, which we probably wouldnt have needed so often if my sister hadnt had waist length hair and picked the fucking things up every other week :o

It has sort of rubbed off on me as it is the first thing I think of when I see a boy with a buzz cut. Totally wrong and unfair but these "lessons" learned in childhood do stay with you.

Luckingfovely · 28/02/2022 23:03

This thread proves that a) you can't please everyone and b) you shouldn't even try.

But there is an overwhelming amount of people who think it looks thuggish - and rightly or wrongly, I agree. I think it looks vile, although difficult to express why. I associate buzzed hair with criminals, I think, and without a shadow of a doubt would think that a young lad with buzzed hair would be from a rough family and probably a terribly behaved yob, even at a very young age.

This thread has made me question that - I've never really considered it before. I'm sure there are some utterly lovely kids with buzzed hair... but I'd also expect to be right about the majority. Class judgement, inherited values, stereotypical preconceptions? Possibly all of those.

An important point to note here is that on a young child... it's actually the parents who are being judged.

Overall though, I thank you for starting this thread - I think it raises some very interesting thoughts, and is worthy of debate.

Blueuggboots · 28/02/2022 23:03

@GalactatingGoddess I just don't like it. I admit it's my issue and I would never say it to a parent about their child but it just makes me cringe.

FelixViolet · 28/02/2022 23:04

I agree with you, OP.

But then, I come from a "chavvy" family where my cousin's had patterns cut into the sides.

I don't see the issue with that either.

MadgeMak · 28/02/2022 23:05

Wow, I'm shocked at some of the disgusting comments I'm reading. My son has a buzz cut, his hair his choice. And he looks bloody gorgeous actually.

DuesToTheDirt · 28/02/2022 23:06

I was going to say it's a haircut for thugs, but 97 people got there before me Grin.

Abouttimemum · 28/02/2022 23:07

I’m not keen on super short but a number 4 all over would be fine. It seems thuggish to me but then I don’t like really long hair on boys either and also there’s a family around here whose little boys have mullets and I have no fucking clue what they are thinking.

Each to their own through, my 3 year old has a short back and sides and lots of people probably don’t like that either!

Abouttimemum · 28/02/2022 23:11

Also when we first moved here 10 years ago a boy across the street who had long hair knocked on our door and asked if his dad could borrow DH’s hair clippers. He wasn’t keen but had a spare pair so sent them over.
20 minutes later the boy brought them back, and he had a buzz cut.
DH said what’s happened here then - and the boy said ‘oh my dad said thanks - I’ve got nits’

I’d totally forgotten about that but this thread brought it back and it made me chuckle.

PinkButtercups · 28/02/2022 23:11

OP just bling him up with some heavy gold chains and a few rings. Stick a cigarette behind his ear to match his clearly thuggish look at 3 years old.

Honestly, these comments. Lazy, chavvy, assume they have nits.

Get a grip. If this hair cut is what her son wants and prefers go for it.

Doesn't make you a lazy parent trying to make your life slightly easier.

FelixViolet · 28/02/2022 23:13

The way we seem to automatically give boys and girls different hairstyles is strange anyway. I don't know what part of having a penis means you need short hair. Societal expectations are shit all around.

elbea · 28/02/2022 23:15

My husband has a buzz cut. He is privately educated and has a variety of degrees, most definitely not a thug and I’d hazard a guess that nobody has ever thought he is a thug. It’s such a bizarre generalisation to make.

OneTC · 28/02/2022 23:15

"thuggish" 3 year olds?

Get over yourselves honestly Grin

TheChosenTwo · 28/02/2022 23:15

Ahh I accidentally got ds a grade 1 all over at the barbers when he was about 2 or 3 Grin he looked like he’d been scalped for lice! My dad, ex army, thought it was an excellent haircut, dh thought it was hilarious and I just thought, oh well, it’ll grow! He did look like a cute thug!
Wish he’d have it cut short again now, he’s 10 and channeling his inner John Lennon and I loathe it so much. But he likes it Confused
Live and let live.

PinkButtercups · 28/02/2022 23:17

@elbea

My husband has a buzz cut. He is privately educated and has a variety of degrees, most definitely not a thug and I’d hazard a guess that nobody has ever thought he is a thug. It’s such a bizarre generalisation to make.
Watch out someone will be along in a minute to tell you to check the back of your wardrobe incase he's hiding his tracksuit and air max's.
Sarahcoggles · 28/02/2022 23:25

To the people accusing posters of being snobby - OP asked why people don’t like buzz cuts and they are answering. Everyone is allowed their own opinion, and OP asked for them.
I don’t like buzz cuts. It always looks to me as if the parents want their kid to look hard. And why would anyone want their 3 year old to look hard?!
OP re the hair cutting issue - have you considered a mobile hair dresser? I’ve had one since my kids were little. She comes to the house, cuts their hair while they watch TV or whatever, and charges £7!

FelixViolet · 28/02/2022 23:26

What wrong with Air Max Confused

Blueeyedgirl21 · 28/02/2022 23:27

It’s snobbery. It’s a middle to upper class thing to have long bowl type hair on little boys
Personally cringe when I see them all trying to play/read/run about with their bob hair cuts getting in their eyes
Just cut it!

Stressedout1009 · 28/02/2022 23:30

@OneTC

"thuggish" 3 year olds?

Get over yourselves honestly Grin

Grin This thread has been a laugh.
takingmytimeonmyride · 28/02/2022 23:34

I don't really like them, I prefer a bit more style.

But having attempted to take my son with learning disabilities to a barber at 4 yo and it ending disastrously a buzz cut is all I could give him myself so that is what he had for many years until a couple of years ago at 17yo when he decided he'd sit for my friend who is a barber.

I've also done it recently over lockdown when barbers were shut. And when my other boys had head lice (but 2 of them did not suit it at all, looked bloody awful!)

I don't judge though because as I've said, there are lots of reasons parents might choose that cut.

Toddlerteaplease · 28/02/2022 23:35

Hate them!