Daughter wants to buzz her hair

[Charlotteshin]

My daughter keeps asking to let me buzz her hair. She wants to follow the celebrities that have done it recently and thinks it’s edgy. AIBU go say no?

Tell her why doesn't she start with an undercut? My DD has an undercut - number two round the back - when her hair is up you can see it. When it's down you wouldn't know it's there. It's a hallway house between a full buzz!

I thought you were going to say she was 13-14. She's 18 so can't forbid it and anyway, hair grows back.
I had a skinhead at a similar age and loved it, a friend also had a skin head, grew it back and has had it really long ever since. Only way to find out is to do it.

She doesn’t want anything else and keeps asking me as she wants to do it ASAP for summer. It’s long enough to donate so I guess that’s the bright side.

She doesn't need your permission, she's 18 years old, she can get rat arse drunk, have tattoos over her whole body, pierce every possible location, you have no say over it.

You can offer advice, provide guidance, give suggestions, but she can do what she wants to her hair.
This.

She’s nearly 18 and has to have your permission? Wow.

If you support this, cheer her on, use this as an opportunity to boost her confidence in her own decision making - she will remember it always.

if you fuss, make her feel guilty, “put your foot down” or make her feel silly or ashamed - she will remember it always

There are quite a few styles that combine curls with short sides. What about that?

Let her do it while she's young! I'd have loved this. Had half my head done in my 20s but later felt the ship had sailed to go full. It grows back!

If she's set on getting a buzz cut, with her long curly hair, she'd be better off going to a barbers/hairdressers initially.

Yeah, I’ll probably just let her go to the barbers as they’re probably more inclined to shave the hair.

Ds 14 at the time had proper skin head cut for the summer - he chose it at the barbers. He hated it, everyone thought he was ill. Learned hard way that wasn't hair cut for him. I brought him a a couple of hats. After a month it looked fine

Something like this.
Mine is sporting a short cut, without the shaving, and I actually love short curly hair styles. They are easier to keep and look very playfull to me.

With all due respect OP, she’s nearly an adult.

She can already learn to drive. She can already buy a lottery ticket. Soon she will be able to buy alcohol. Vote in the election.Gamble.

And you’ve told her no to shaving her hair? It’s not your hair. So not your decision.

If she regrets it, she can buy a wig or get some extensions in a few months when her natural hair is long enough for extensions.

This shouldn’t even be up for debate with you.

I had my hair buzzed several months ago. I donated my very long hair to a charity that makes wigs for children, would your daughter consider doing this as well?

My advice to your daughter would be she will need to get her hair trimmed/reshaped every few months as it grows out, and will need to get different types of hair brush as it gets to different stages.

How is her self confidence? I'm a chubby middle aged lady who is not worried how I look. That said the response I got to my hair cut was positive. Her hair will go through some very awkward stages, then it grows a bit, all is well for a while, until the next awkward stage! Will she be ok with this?

It’s just hair and what a great message that you can just chop it off and enjoy the freedom of a crop. So what if she hates it - it’s just a hair cut. Hopefully it is the start of degrees of liberation from the tyranny of caring what you look like.

She's 18, doesn't need your permission. If she doesn't like it for whatever reason; it'll grow back.

When I was 16 I went to barbers to get a buzz cut. I didn't even ask my mum it's wasn't her hair. I don't see a problem.

Buy her a pair of clippers and tell get to crack on. You can tidy the edges if needed.

That's how I maintain my own buzzcut

I did it at that age. Wouldn't do it again but glad I tried it. Had super long hair. It completely changed my life as I went from being traditionally attractive and getting lots of male attention to none. Changed my perspective on men, the world etc.

I remember this episode of.Blossom:

Blossom runs into her previously unseen and unmentioned friend Doris, who she almost didn’t recognize. Doris’ deal is that she shaved her head as an act of youthful rebellion, only to discover she has a large birthmark on her head. One kid called her Gorbachev and then they all did. So now she’s wearing a Tina Turner wig, hoping no one will recognize her.

It's a warning!

Personally, I think that's really cool.

She's nearly 18. I don't think my mum gave any opinion on how I had my hair cut after I was about 12.

If she's unhappy she'll just have to live with it until it grows back and maybe get used to wearing hats for a while. A bad haircut isn't the end of the world and she will learn that sometimes there is a difference between what she imagines and reality.

On the other hand she may love it. Leave her to it.

At her age it’s up to her, but in your situation I wouldn’t be paying for it and I certainly wouldn’t do it myself. It’s highly likely she’ll regret it and I wouldn’t want to involved in any way at all with that regret.

Hopefully if she goes to a salon they’ll persuade her to have something a bit less drastic.