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Original poster

What's a Mum Bob?

103 replies

MartinRohdesBellybuttonFluff · 13/09/2018 19:30

I know what mum boots are and mum jeans, but can anyone please explain what a mum bob haircut is please?

Thanks!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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Bluntness100 · 14/09/2018 17:32

Yup, you get dad jeans, dad dancing, dad bod,

Handbaghag · 14/09/2018 17:44

Is any bob acceptable after reading this?!

scarbados · 14/09/2018 17:52

@Handbaghag

As far as I'm concerned, any hairstyle is acceptable if it's what the wearer wants, likes and is happy with. What isn't acceptable is the sneering that goes on in some of these threads.

Original poster
MartinRohdesBellybuttonFluff · 14/09/2018 17:57

OP here. Was just enquiring as I have seen the term used on more than one thread. I have a long bob which I tie up in a ponytail on a daily basis (unless I've time to do anything with it), so from an S&B point of view I'm doubly fooked Grin

OP posts:
sittingonacornflake · 14/09/2018 18:15

Please can someone explain the 'speak to a manager' bob? Is it a bob worn by someone who always complains and wants to speak to a manager or is it a bob worn by a manager?

pumpkinyael · 14/09/2018 18:17

@sittingonacornflake

By someone who is doing the complaining. It's a stereotype about middle aged, white women, I suppose (?)

sanssherif · 14/09/2018 18:30

Funny that then.
It seems fine to put middle age heterosexual women with children down.
If that were a minority racial group, a sexual minority or indeed a trans woman people would be going mad.

pumpkinyael · 14/09/2018 18:43

It seems fine to put middle age heterosexual women with children down.

Yes. And it's often fine to put all kinds of women down.

Young women are superficial.
Asian women are meek.
Black women are sassy.
Lesbian women are "defective".
And we're obviously all oversensitive, emotional, hysterical, manipulative or whatever else happens to fit the situation...

It is however true that people (even other women) usually don't care too much about these kinds of things. Unless they themselves happen to be insulted or stereotyped at the same time...

Loonoon · 14/09/2018 18:48

I had one until the day I looked around my aerobics class and realised at least 75% of the 30 middle aged women in there were all sporting similar chin length highlighted blonde bobs. It was like a mum bob cult. I grew my hair out and now try to keep it more of a bronde tone. It’s bad enough being middle aged, I don’t want to channel it through my style as well........not any more than I have to anyway!

Oblomov18 · 14/09/2018 18:53

I really hate the prefix of 'mum' anything. It's so extremely derogatory.

Oblomov18 · 14/09/2018 18:54

Absolutely nothing wrong, AT ALL, with nearly every photo on this thread.

MaisyPops · 14/09/2018 18:56

sittingonacornflake
The graduated Bob, often with very obvious blonde highlights generally sported by a type of woman who misunderstands assertively polite and being an entitled stroppy thing.

The last can I speak to a manager woman I saw was arguing with shop assistant (holding us all up) because the shop assistant outrageously said that she couldn't return a multi pack product with one of the items missing. CISTAM woman was being an arse, the sales assistants were very polite but firm and CISTAM woman started going off on one. Having called a manager they kindly said we can do a discretionary gift card but ultimately it's not a complete item. CISTAM woman starts prattling on about her consumer rights and how busy she is and doesn't have time to deal with all of this and she's going to ring the authorities because her statutory rights have been broken. Utter twat.

yumscrumfatbum · 14/09/2018 18:57

Hmm I suspect I have a Mum bob. It doesn't matter what I do with my hair it tends to take on a roundness and in time oh it's a bob again. Now my DH has had the same short haircut pretty much all his life with the exception of a brief mullet phase. All his friends have a pretty similar short back and sides bit longer on the top do. Is that a Dad cut?

frogface69 · 14/09/2018 19:10

It's just taken over from the perm that over 35s got in the 50s up until the 80s when it started to go out of fashion. I was in a cafe today and at the next table were 9 women all with the same ish bob and all blonde. A bit children of the damned.

pumpkinyael · 14/09/2018 19:21

I have a long bob which I tie up in a ponytail on a daily basis (unless I have time to do anything with it), so from an S&B point of view I'm doubly fooked grin

I like long bobs.
I'd probably consider getting one if my hair wouldn't get super big and puffy if it was short-ish.Grin

Kokoloco · 14/09/2018 19:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Blameanamechange · 14/09/2018 20:43

The only reason I don't have a bob is because there are so many about now. I had one of those one side longer ones and then saw loads if people with that-so off that came too! Being seen as a mum is an attitude thing and how you view yourself.

TheNavigator · 15/09/2018 08:32

The only Mumsnet approved hair appears to be long a grey. Which I think looks shit. I think the photos on this thread look absolutely fine, in fact some are lovely. Nothing wrong, at all, with a mum bob as far as I am concerned, it usually looks great.

Biologifemini · 15/09/2018 08:36

Perhaps they will be calling the mum bob look rainbow uniform hair and tattoos in the future.
I certainly think highlights have had their day.
I spritz my ends blonde but I now prefer a more uniform overall colour.

Clockwork95 · 15/09/2018 08:45

If that photo of Katie Holmes is what dowdy and frumpy looks like, sign me up!

Having read this thread I'm very confused about what counts as "acceptable" hair.

ABCFamily · 15/09/2018 08:50

So what do people think about curly inverted bobs?

My hair is curly, but also very fine (similar in texture to the first pic, but slightly tighter curls). While I'd love to have longer hair, it doesn't really grow past my shoulders, and frankly it just looks straggly and a bit unkempt at that length. I've had a slightly inverted bob before (like the 2nd pic), and think it helped my hair look thicker, but I've always been a bit worried about CISTAM connotations. I'm mid thirties, with a slightly round face.

I know my hair will never look sleek, but I don't want to look dowdy either!

What's a Mum Bob?
What's a Mum Bob?
TheNavigator · 15/09/2018 09:04

ABCFamily I really wouldn't worry what 'people' think based on Mumsnet. There seems to be an odd obsession on this board with going grey and having long hair. I think that curly inverted bob looks lovely, but then I thought most of the women pictured on this thread looked lovely - I genuinely could not see what was wrong with them, they looked like healthy, attractive, appealing women - what more do you want?

slinkysaluki · 15/09/2018 09:46

Mines like this but longer and copper red

What's a Mum Bob?
TSSDNCOP · 15/09/2018 10:08

Definitely the Outnumbered Mum.

The Katie Holmes/Richard III is bang on.

They are the most labour intensive of all haircuts and that’s why they always look shit. They’re almost always being grown out and never improved following a “I know, I’ll have a fringe cut in” decision.

nooddsocksforme · 15/09/2018 10:30

This is what I hate about style and beauty . I have thick wavy hair and my very good hairdresser has said that when my hair is mid length the only style she would cut it in is a bob. Shorter layers make me look like a burst cushion. There are many styles I would love to have other than a bob but it’s not possible with my type of hair.
What I object too is being made to feel that that makes me dowdy and frumpy. There is an attitude on here that if you don’t dress and look in a particular way you are frumpy . And yet as a forum mumsnet is supposed to be about supporting and empowering women - not whittling away their self esteem .
I like what I like and do what’s possible with my appearance . I would prefer to be a tall willowy blonde but I’m a short- arsed brunette. I am “well groomed” but in a way that suits my life-style.
So if someone likes bobs and mum boots why is their opinion less valid than someone who loves linen and clothes from cos .