Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Multicultural families

Here's where to share your experience of raising a child or growing up in a multicultural family.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

any asians/muslims who have shaved their babies head?

32 replies

vannah · 27/01/2008 15:45

Hello all,

just wondering if there are any mums out there who shaved their babies hair (bizarre cultural reasons - Im not sure I believe in the 'makes your hair grow back thicker' theory)

Im happy to ignore my family pressuring me to shave my dd's hair, I ignored them with the first child. But lately have been wondering if it makes any difference to CRADLE CAP?

ie after the head was shaved, did your baby get cradle cap?
Ive not seen cradle cap on my sister/brother's children, but my ds who's head was not shaved was covered in cradle cap from about 3 months onwards, and looks like my little daughter is about to get it too...(she is 6 weeks old)

any thoughts?
thankyou (also posted in religion/spiritual)

OP posts:

Cashncarry · 27/01/2008 15:49

Yes - did it. DH is Muslim and I'm Hindu (although neither particularly religious). DD was five months when we bit the bullet and gave her a grade 1 (rather than an old bic with a bit of soap as I saw my brother do with his DS!).

Worked a treat with her truly awful cradle cap - it was so bad that it came down to her eyebrows and none of the treatments (olive oil, detinox, etc) touched it.

It disappeared overnight after a good hacking. honestly - do it! It doesn't matter when their babies anyway and tbh it did feel nice and clean and she had a lovely soft fuzzy head for ages that all my childless friends were fixated by!

kama · 27/01/2008 15:51

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

kama · 27/01/2008 15:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

vannah · 27/01/2008 16:01

thankyou.
cashncarry- how long did it take to grow back?

OP posts:

Cashncarry · 27/01/2008 19:09

Gosh - y'know I really can't remember It was two and a half years ago in my defence! I distinctly remember that by the time DD was 11 months, she had a full head of curly bonkers hair again!

Hang on mo - will search out some photos and let you know!

PaulaYatesBiggestFan · 27/01/2008 19:19

i am not asian but (bizarrely) knowing that asians do this i did shave dc5's head at maybe 8 weeks old
his hair was straggly and i thought it may make it stronger

again in a slightly bizarre twist - he was my only child to not get cradle cap! coincidence? i had never made the connection until now!

Cashncarry · 27/01/2008 19:28

Right - I'm back - looking at old photos it took about 2 months for it to return to the same length hair as it was when she was born i.e. full head of hair all over.

I didn't really notice any difference in the "texture" tbh - just that she had this weird receding hairline type thing when she was born but when we shaved it, that seemed to disappear along with the dreaded cradle cap.

Paula - eight weeks Wasn't his head still all soft? DH's culture dictates 40 days after birth as being the norm but when that time came, DH and I both felt icky about doing it so soon - I can't explain that either!

Original poster

vannah · 27/01/2008 20:46

thanks again
paulayatesbiggestfan- aha, seems my 'theory' might be true after all, esp if it was your 5th and only child not to get it.

thanks cashncarry, very comforting to know that about 2 months, and will ask for a 'grade 1' though not sure where to do it.
And yes, my little one has the same weird receding hairline too, I think thats a result of the cradle cap...

OP posts:

mixedmama · 16/03/2008 18:15

is this an asian thing or a muslim thing as hubby and i are both muslim but in my culture we dont do it and his they do... we did both our DSs and altho I wasnt really happy it didnt really hurt me and we done it within 7 days which was quite scary.

On the thickness thing... I have mega thick hair and so does my bro and my cousins and none of ours was shaved....

Interesting about the cradle cap tho... will bear that in mind.

blueshoes · 16/03/2008 19:16

Hmmm, we shaved ds' head, because his hair was growing out wispy and had a bald patch at the back (not a good look). Did it 3x in total. His bald patch grew out (probably would have done so anyway). But I don't recall him getting cradle cap or if he did, it was mild and shortlived. His hair has now grown out evenly, but not particularly thick.

I did not shave dd's head and she had quite bad cradle cap for a few months. Coincidence?

mehdismummy · 17/03/2008 11:37

my dh muslim and there was no way i was letting him shave my ds hair when he was a baby. My ds has never had cradle cap and has lovely thick curly hair. And before i get jumped on. Ds is being brought up muslim. He only eats halal food as did i whilst pg and still am as i am bf. He has been circumsised. But thats just one thing i dont agree with. Poor old ds was dragged out with forceps so bruised all ready

ShinyHappyChickensLayingEggs · 17/03/2008 11:47

You are fine with his foreskin being cut off but not his hair??

indiechick · 17/03/2008 11:53

I thought it was a traditional thing to shave the hair off, weigh it and give the equivalent weight in gold to charity. It seems a really lovely thing to do to say thank you to whoever you believe in for a healthy child. Not sure saying it's for 'bizarre cultural reasons' is terribly enlightened!

snowleopard · 17/03/2008 11:53

A Iranian mum from my pg yoga class brought in her baby daughter with shaved head - don't know about cradle cap but I thought she looked beautiful. She had huge eyes and it somehow made her look even more stunning.

mehdismummy · 17/03/2008 12:00

tbh i am not fine with any of it. I feel very much bullied by it all. I told dh that he wasnt shaving ds head and one of the only reasons i let it go ahead with his foreskin is because it was down at a brilliant childrens hospital and they were already doing an op on his testes anyway. I wasnt allowed an opinion on it. Dh was adamant about it being done and tbh it is easier to say yes then get the abuse i would get if i refused

ShinyHappyChickensLayingEggs · 17/03/2008 12:06

Mehdis, sorry, wasn't trying to be controversial or disrespecting of religious customs - that's not my style - it just occured to me to be strange that you would allow a surgical procedure but not a haircut, which holds no risk.

Do you suffer abuse every time you disagree with H? You don't have to put up with this you know, regardless of where he is from!!

saadia · 17/03/2008 12:16

We shaved dss' heads and ds1 did have cradle cap afterwards but ds2 didn't. Also after shaving ds1's head we discovered an oval shaped birthmark on his head, near the nape of his neck, which we would never have known about otherwise.

mehdismummy · 17/03/2008 12:19

hi shiny i was not offended at all. H does not like me disagreeing with him. In contact with womens aid. The hair thing really freaked me out. Strange i know. I think it was just the thought of his tiny head being shaved

mixedmama · 18/03/2008 16:18

Oh mehdismummy... sorry you are havign such a hard time, makes me feel silly about worrying about the hair thing now.

Hope it all works out for you.

mehdiseasterbunny · 18/03/2008 19:00

dont be silly mixedmama. Its not your fault my h is an arsehole. He makes me laugh by his behaviour with being a muslim because he choses which part of koran to follow and the way he behaves towards me goes against everything the koran says.

ummadam · 25/03/2008 15:05

we are muslims and shaved our son's head at 7 days old. He didn't wake up let alone cry, at 11wks old he has lovely spiky hair now and he has not had any cradle cap at all.

I've no idea if there is a link or not

mehdiseasterbunny, sorry to hear your H is such a so called 'muslim' men are certainly not immune to being idiots! A muslim husband should respect and treat you well!

I just wanted to say how much I respect you for trying to bring your son up as a muslim - inshallah you can teach the next generation well don't forget to teach him that according to the prophet muhammed, paradise is at the feet of your mother!

mixedmama · 30/03/2008 22:52

mehdi was wondering how things are going and if you have managed to sort things out.

sweetgrapes · 01/04/2008 18:47

Shaved my dd's head at 8 months (Proper shaving with a razor). Didn't know she had cradle cap till then In my defense it was very light and never came back after that.

Ds is almost 2 and am going to get it done again after his birthday (a clipper on 0??)(In my culture it's the first year or the third year - but not the 2nd year!)

He has lovely hair at the moment and no cradle cap. (I checked really carefully this time round).

And no, I don't think it makes the hair grow thicker. I think that's an old wives tale. My kids have had beautiful hair from the start and a friend of mine whose dd has very thin hair has shaved her 4/5 times in india with a razor but it still is thin. So there...

mehdismummy · 01/04/2008 19:09

thanks guys. I am ok. Staying with mum at the moment. I am gonna phone mosque when i get back because even though h claims to be muslim he picks and chooses what part of koran to read. I want ds to be a proper muslim and i want him to have the truth not things daddy says is right. I by the way think the religion teaches humanity love understanding and respect. Nothing h posesses(sp) but i want ds to have

mixedmama · 01/04/2008 21:52

good to know you are ok and havent lost any faith in Islam. keep us updated and hope it works out.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread