would you let your small child . . .

[lilyka]

use a bright permant dye on thier hair?

I have always let my child do it. my first had a perpetually dyeing babysitter who she idolized and her and her boyfriend were desperate to dye madelines very blond hair because it would have "good results". they used a very little right on the tips which we left in a few weeks before cutting. she was 3 at the time.

when she was 4 she was biting her nails and I asked said babysitter to help her stop (she would have jumped off a moutain if Dippy asked her to) and the deal they struck was full on blue hair. what the heck. but man did I get some looks from the other mothers. you would have though I had shaved her bald and painted a swear word on her noggin.

The other day dd (who is now 7) had a friend dye her hair hot pink (again very blond so the results were dramatic!) and the tae Kwon Do teacher said some just plain mean things ot her. So we all got together and went crazy. Now we have a 4 yo with red tips, a 7 yo with very red hair, an 8 yo with purple (he was a little dissapointed), a 5 yo who often sports green, a 7 yo who will likely jump on board as soon as she sees the other girl, and a 6 Yo who out ounks us all with hot pink. we decided if they were all a bunch of mini freaks S wouldn't get picked on by the teacher. Or at least she would be in good company.

funny how I had forgotten all those remarks and stairs and rude comments. you would think I had branded her for life. and while that red isn't going to fade out anytime soon, it won't last forever.

Are we the only freaks that think this is an OK fun thing for little kids to do? I think it is better that they get it out of thier system now rather than when they are in the job market. Anyhoo, if you do think it is abd idea, why? I fel like I am missing somehting. as a general rule the people I hang out with aren't that repressed, or maybe they are. (of course the friends I did this with a fully unrepressed :LOL)

[DalaiMama]

my only worry would be the chemicals in the dye.

[Nurturing Mama]

Hmm...my son is only 2, but I don't think I would want him to color his hair as a small child. I don't even have a good reason, though. I just wouldn't be comfortable with it. I guess I'm repressed :LOL .

[Rainbow]

I'd only worry about the chemicals- make koolaid hair dye though- it washes out in a week or so and it is just as fun!

[wende]

Yes!! My oldest had purple when she was 3, her dad freaked and had her in the tub for the rest of the day! I think he was being silly. Now that she is older I have bleached the tips of her hair and dyed them hot pink and have let her highlight her hair. My younger dd and oldest ds have both had purple hair. DS wants blue hair next, he has also had a full on mohawk and has often gone to school with his hair in punk rock spikes. Just today my dh asked "I wonder what she (9yo dd) would look like with black hair. We should dye it." Funny, all of a sudden I turned into a prude, lol. Only because I'm afraid if she doesn't like it that we're stuck with it.

[Ravin]

I don't see anything wrong with it. It's not a permanent alteration.

Of course, my DD still doesn't have enough hair to dye, so what do I know?

My biggest concern would be that too much bleaching/dying would fry that fine hair, and I am very resistant to the idea of cutting my DD's hair before her coming of age.

[TheJoyfulMom]

We do it. Olivia had red streaks in her hair at 3.

[AnnMarie]

I've done it to my kids' hair. It's only hair, it grows back.

[EFmom]

Nope. Not until the child was at least in jr high school, and even then, with something like coolaid, not with permanent hair dye.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

DC is 2.75 y/o and I can't imagine her asking. I don’t know if I would let her do a permanent color. I would let her to around with non-permanent in all kinds of crazy colors though.

If I saw you at the park I would give you and "approving" smile and I think you and your DC were totally cool.

[Graceoc]

Probably not as small kids - but once they were able to do it themselves (say middle school or so?) I would be ok with it. Just knowing my ds (4) he wouldn't really 'get' the permance of it (even though it will eventually go away) and would most likely get upset when it didn't come out when he wanted LOL!

[absinthe]

You go guys! I definately would. I am thinking of dying dd hair a very pretty lavender. She loves the idea!

[LoveBeads]

I wouldn't do it just because I know how badly dying my hair has dried it out. But I have rather dry hair to begin with so maybe it wouldn't be as bad for young, healthy hair.

[Colorful~Mama]

nods. i made my dd wait till she was 14 to dye her hair. I've always been worried bout the damage. But she's a teen now and safe risk taking/self expression is important.

she had hot pink streaks earlier this year, then went to black with purple highlights. she's fading out to her natural color again now and has decided she'd like blonde highlights this summer.

at 14 i'm cool with it. not so sure at 3 or 4. my 4yo hasn't asked, nor do i think she will. lol

[Greaseball]

I wouldn't use permanent color. Koolaid sounds good.

I started dyeing my hair in high school. I was a blond and I wanted to be a redhead. I bought a box of red and a box of blond, and figured that if I didn't like it I could just go right back to blond.

Not exactly how it worked...turns out I had this unique color that you can't just buy in a store, so I never was able to find my original shade. I spent the next several years dyeing, re-dyeing, going from bright red to burgundy to black and back to blond again, damaging my hair and looking like a doofus. Finally I'm at my natural shade again, except for 2 inches or so at the ends which I've been slowly cutting off as it grows out.

If my dc's want to dye their hair a permanent color when they are that old, I'll let them, but I'll make them listen to my sad hair story first. I wish I had never dyed mine.

[Dechen]

I wouldn't do it myself, but I don't have a problem with other people doing it.

I think I'll let Aine do it at the age of 12 if she wants.

[gigglesgalore]

DH would freak if I dyed Jaiden's hair, but if Jaiden were asking for it, he might be ok with it. She's only 1.5 year and until this thead, it didn't even occur to me as an option! I don't think I'd expose her to the chemicals this young, but I wouldn't judge anyone else for doing it. Sounds like a pretty cool thing!

[tofumama]

Lilyka, If I saw you and your 'freak' kids at the park, I'd run right up to you and introduce myself so our kids could be friends!!! My kids are young still, but if they asked, I'd do Manic Panic or one of those semi-perm dyes. I rarely have the same hair color month to month, so they are bound to ask eventually! They do frequently sport 'tattoos' b/c well, I'm covered! Tattoo and 'hay dye' were words learned early in this house! :LOL

[Piglet68]

I think you sound like a totally cool mama!!

I had my hair every colour in the rainbow. Started dying it at age 19 and still do it, though the colours have toned way down over the years and I dont' bleach it anymore. My hair is fine. I dont' think it causes any permanent damage - hair grows out and mine grows fast.

I think it's a societal thing: people associated dyed hair with "bad girls". When you stop and think about it, what does it matter if your girl wants pink hair?

[thistle]

Its just hair. I'd definitely let dd color her hair. DH might not be so crazy about it, dunno though, a lot of times he suprises me.

thistle