No child is born the same, and no mother has the same mothering tactics. The internet recently exploded over a young mom’s TikTok post. She documented a trip to the hair salon with her five-year-old daughter after she had asked to bleach her hair. Naturally, the keyboard warriors were quick to react and shared their highly opinionated views on the girl’s day out. The mother of the freshly bleached five-year-old was shocked by the sheer volume of mom-shamers who disagreed with her bleaching her daughter’s hair.
A girls day of bleaching hair
Demi Lucy May Engemann is a young mother of five-year-old Maude. Recently, Demi posted a video on her TikTok account that has since gone viral. The clip boasts a fun day out, just the girls. According to Demi, her daughter, Maude, had asked if she could go with her to the salon so she could bleach her hair. Maude wanted to have pink hair, which meant they needed to first bleach her brunette hair.
The video has been viewed 17,4 million times, with over 2 million likes. It showcases a fun and lively Maude who is absolutely thrilled to see her hair so blond. At the end of the video, her dad walks into the salon. His first reaction was to say he did not recognize her a first. however, he had a big smile on his face all the while.
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Mom-shamed for bleaching hair
The internet is full of people who are unashamed to share their opinions. It is a playground for keyboard warriors who quite often do not realize the impact of their words. One person commented: “What the f*** is wrong with that mother?” Another wrote: “So unnecessary. These kids are forced into commercials“. Finally, another comment read: “You let your kid skip school and put chemicals on their scalp”. There were of course many more negative comments that you can find on the TikTok post.
On the other hand, there were some comments that showed support for bleaching hair, even on a five-year-old. One person said: “Don’t listen to any of hateful people on here, I loved having color in my hair as a kid and am so thankful I had my mom as a hairdresser to do it!” another person praised the memories they made by bleaching hair. They wrote: “She was so full of joy and it’s a precious memory you’ll both have 🥰 absolutely beautiful 💖”
Standing up for herself
Demi was appalled at the reaction she got from her viewers. She took to the internet to express her antonymous view of the negative comments. “I am honestly exhausted from replying to the mom shamers and trolls in the comments. that’s never okay. you can disagree, that’s fine. But the minute name calling starts, or mom shaming starts based off one decision that you disagree with, that’s where I put an end to that.”
Demi went on to explain that this was her daughter’s idea to have her hair bleached, and not her own. She even wrote in a text overlay of the viral video that she “couldn’t believe they actually did it”. Presently, Maude is very interested in Barbies and unicorns, explained her mother. This was why she wanted to have pink hair. Her dad even agreed to it as long as they went to a professional for bleaching hair.
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“Do better“
Demi said: “So for those jumping to conclusion saying oh, this was my decision, and that I wanted her to be blond for the family pictures, that is simply not true. I would never put that on my daughter and make her feel like she needs to change something about herself. That’s just not the type of person I am. That’s just not the type of mom I am. I would never impose my will onto my daughter.”
Finally, she said: “I posted the video because it was such a special and fun bonding moment with my daughter. So, it’s sad that the internet has to turn that into a negative in anyway. There are so many children that are neglected. and so many damaged parent-child relationships. So turning something like this into a negative is really sad.” She concluded her rant with: “If you’re a mom out there mom shaming – do better”.