To let my 8 year old daughter shave half her head

[Missymini]

My daughter currently has a bob and she has decided she wants her hair cut shorter. We have looked together at pictures online and she likes the type were half the head is shaved and the remaining hair has a undercut. It feels quite drastic but I am tempted to let her as it is her hair we have discussed once it is done if she doesn't like it she will have to wait for it to grow out and she is adamant that is fine.

Curious to know what ‘statement’ you think this haircut is making?

I’ve never decided what my daughter has looked like.

But you think the OP should control what her daughter looks like until the child is old enough to have independent income stream?

Why wouldn't you want the OP to give her daughter the same freedom you have given your daughter?

(And a haircut is obviously far less damaging than using chemicals on her head).

She’s 8 ffs! It’s a parents responsibility not to let an 8 year old make such decisions. She’ll look really awful. It looks really trashy on an adult, let alone a child.

My niece got a very short hair cut at around 9 years old. She ended up hating it, and feeling like it was too much work, didn’t suit her etc.

But that’s how you learn! And, I think it’s better she had that experience at that age, than chopping all her hair off at 14-16 when others at school might be more “judgey”

A lot of schools deem extreme as Afros and protective hairstyles of Black people especially Black boys if they do dreads or braids and especially if they have fades. The amount of kids who get suspended over this is criminal. Black girls get told braids or twists are 'too extreme'and unprofessional which is code for unkempt. Even though these hairstyles are deeply historical and have existed for hundreds of years. In UK schools there's been a 66% rise in policies penalising Afro hair which is just so sad and repeating instances in history like Tignon Laws which force Black people to cover their hair.

A lot of schools deem extreme as Afros and protective hairstyles of Black people especially Black boys if they do dreads or braids and especially if they have fades. The amount of kids who get suspended over this is criminal. Black girls get told braids or twists are 'too extreme'and unprofessional which is code for unkempt. Even though these hairstyles are deeply historical and have existed for hundreds of years. In UK schools there's been a 66% rise in policies penalising Afro hair which is just so sad and repeating instances in history like Tignon Laws which force Black people to cover their hair.

No doubt people will say I’m old-fashioned but wouldn't let her. She is too young to understand the implications and how it will make her the centre of attention and everyone will stare at her. Hair usually grows about half an inch a month. That’s not much by the time she goes back to school. Surely there are less extreme styles she could choose.

Tbh I find it quite uncomfortable that a child of eight is so interested in radical hairstyles. I'd be very surprised if it was a child model she saw with this style.

How do you know what she’ll look like? 😂

I’d say putting chemicals on a 13 yo, including peroxide, yes is more extreme than a haircut that will grow out.

And I don’t use the term ‘chavvy’ typically but short hair or balayage on a young teen. If I had to pick one that was ‘chavvy’…

I would let her. My DD had some extraordinary hairstyles from ages 9-15, some of it with a fluorescent yellow buzz cut so she looked a bit like a walking tennis ball (none of it against school guidelines). Aged 18, she has beautiful long curls with a few highlights. I think she had a lot of fun with her different haircuts and has calmed down on the crazy stuff a bit now she is older and has had the chance to try things out. I would not, by the way, mind if she had crazy hair now but I am glad she didn't have to do eg job interviews with a fluorescent buzz cut as, rightly or wrongly, it may have put them off a bit.

Why do you care about how eight year old girls you don't know look?!

I think maybe you need to talk to someone. It's quite worrying to be looking at little girls in that way.

@Cappuccino5 honestly you just sound terrible, after thinking it was a good idea to type out that you deem all short/shaved hair as “chavvy”, but somehow letting a 13 year old have highlights and balayages is fine.

Next stop is proclaiming children named after places are chavvy while yours is named India.

It grows back, it’s fine.

I’d worry about the cost to keep it like that personally - be about every four weeks

Love that hairstyle and I say go for it!!! My only reservation would be what stage it will have grown into by the beginning of term.

I had a similar style when I was younger and it was a nightmare, it has to be styled every day and cut regularly to maintain the shape and growing it out is another level of ball ache. As you can probably tell I regretted it a lot and I really don’t think an 8 year old could style it and be bothered to constantly visit the hairdressers, honestly I wouldn’t let her until she’s old enough to style her own hair and even then I’d try and talk her out of it from bitter experience.

Bleaching hair is extreme, yes. It’s permanently damaging the hair and tbh you must have a pretty poor hairdresser that would do that to a child’s hair.

wanting A haircut you like isn’t ’so Bothered’ about it. It’s just what she likes the look of.

@op

I find the bleaching hair/highlighting hair to conform or be more conventional much more cringe than experimenting with hair cuts.

This post must be a pisstake, not the OPs

Quite.
also, both my girls had coloured hair at times as little kids, they’re both fairly alternative now. They have facial piercings and tattoos.
they also have responsible jobs, I’ve never had to pick them up drunk, or taken drugs. They are both well behaved successful young women. It’s almost like hair and make up and clothes don’t mean a thing about you except what look you like.

These are all pre-.teens it looks great’

That's nice. The tattoo spoils the look but the op's daughter isn't having a tattoo.

It's summer. As long as she understands that it will have to be cut into a school acceptable 'do before September (which this definately isn't) I'd let her go for it with the understanding that it will be a nightmare to grow out and that she needs to be happy with having very short hair when she goes back to school.

The only time I might say no is if it would be very expensive and I was paying or it would take a lot of faffing from me to do.

From a young age we tell our girls that they have absolute autonomy over their bodies but then so many people on here are adding "yes, but I only meant when I said you could".

It's hair. Who cares?