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When mum and hairstylist Mary Thomaston posted a series of pictures on Instagram of her six-year-old daughter’s emerging “unicorn” hair, she never expected the haters to chime in.
Of course angry trolls are lurking everywhere now, but, seriously, what’s the big deal about this hairstyle? The mum ticked all the safety and permission boxes first using non-toxic wash-out products, clearing the “do” with the school and, most importantly, making sure little Lyra was well informed about the style she’d chosen.
But still the angry people got angry. Here are some of the “offensive” images Mary posted.
The naysayers tended to question how safe the products were (which she answered over and over) and the age- appropriateness of dying and colour a child’s hair. And anything other nastiness they felt like throwing at the young mum.
“If that isn’t temporary dye you could be doing unknown damage to the health and development of that very young child,”
“How long did this little girl have to sit to accomplish that! Why? Sometimes we forget they’re little and not a little doll.”
Mary, who has a colourful do herself, has taken none of this lying down, responding to the individual criticisms as well as by posting more and more images of her empowered daughter loving her hair, including a lovely one of Lyra seeming to flex her muscles representing girl power.
She also penned this missive back to her detractors:
Dear Haters, I have this weird goal of raising self-confident, self-assured children, who know and feel the freedom of self-expression. So when my child asks for blue hair, I tell her how much I like her choice and how beautiful she is. Even better, I do it with quality products, that not only respect the integrity of her hair, but also fades out with time.
“I am not sure how you are raising your children, but keep your unwelcome opinions to yourself in regards to my child rearing. You do not like blue, cool, say so. You don’t like rainbow hair, cool, say that. These things are opinions you are entitled to, your disrespectful comments about my child are not.
“Lastly, I am not sure who the f*** does your hair, if you have chosen bad stylists in that past. But you are 100% inaccurate is assuming my child’s hair was damaged in this process. As a trained and licenced stylist, I can assure you it was not.
“Oh, and keep your negativity off my page next time.”
That’s telling them, Mary and Lyra.
