Highlights - Milwaukee,WI

I don't have a daughter, but no way.
She's got her whole life to get ideas about what she needs to "change" about herself....

no way in hell! That's crazy talk. I would not add harsh chemicals to my kid's hair. That's for when you become an adult. Yes, I add them to my own hair but if I don't I look all old and washed out. Kids are gorgeous just the way they are.

No. Just absolutely no.

Why would you want to (even unintentionally) tell her that she's anything less than perfect? She's only five!

I'm sure you aren't intending to insinuate that she needs to change -- but little girls internalize messages we don't expect them to. Just celebrate who she is and how wonderful it is to have her as your daughter.

Heck to the NO!!

Good grief no, she's only 5.

Oh why oh why?
I don't mean to be snarky, please don't mind me.
But she is only 5-6, and probably with nice natural 5 year old hair.
Sure, her hair color is changing. This is normal. And natural. It is turning dirty blonde. Well, that is nice too. Will you be always, keeping up her dye job for as long as her hair is dirty blonde?

Let her, be "happy" with her own hair color.
Let her know, that there is nothing "wrong" with her hair color.
It is her hair.
Her own uniqueness.
A child shouldn't be self conscious, about their hair color nor learning how to compare, hair color.
A child, needs to learn how, to be themselves.
To be happy in their own skin.
To embrace their own, selves.
Not getting hung up on "appearances" yet. And hopefully, not ever.
To be free and to be themselves, is the best thing about childhood. Not having to keep up affectations.
A child, should not have to have, affectations.

My Husband as a child, was blond as can be. Along the way, he became a great brunette. And it is lovely! He's hot!
I also know a girl at school ( I work there), who had blonde hair. This year, she has brown hair. And she looks great. I even complemented her on it... she was trying to "hide" it. Wearing hats etc. and looked self conscious. But I told her, she looks nice! And that it suits her. And it does. Because, she is growing into her own. I told her, to be proud of her hair. She is blossoming.

I also know a woman, a grandparent at my kids' school. ALL her life, she has dyed her hair. She now wears a wig. Why?
Because, after all these years (and she can afford to go to high end hair salons to do it), her hair has become damaged, and brittle... and thinner. Her hair cannot take anymore dye jobs. It is too, fragile now. So she must wear wigs. And when younger, she had a great thick head of hair. Lovely vibrant thick hair. She now wishes, she never dyed her hair, so much.

There are things that children need to experience when they are older. This is one of them. Also, you need to allow her body to look like it normally looks. Changing her hair color is just for YOU. You run the real risk of your child growing up feeling that she will never be good enough for you.

Do things like this for yourself to be "cute". Not for her.

No. I wouldn't. She is 5.

I would point out, though, that today was the first day of Spring. If her hair used to be lighter, a few days out playing in bright sun might do what you are looking for naturally. My kids' hair always gets lighter in the summer from sun exposure.
My own hair used to be a dark blonde with some reddish streaks/highlights... now it is mostly a mousy kinda brown shade. But when I spend time in the sun in the summer, it gets a lot lighter and in fall the lighter areas turn and my entire head of hair has more of a reddish tone. In years I don't get as much sun, it is more mouse-y, no red.

Take her out to play in the sun---the vitamin D will be good for her anyway. :)

At 5 years old, I don't think she cares about highlights. As well, I can bet she doesn't want to sit through the coloring.

She is too young to be exposed to the chemicals of permanent hair colors or bleaching agents.

No, I would not. There are so many ways we teach girls that their looks are the only thing important about them. How they are portrayed in movies, books, advertising, their toys, the clothing marketed to them. This would just be one more thing in a long list. I would try to teach her I value her intelligence, her strength, her empathy - not her hair.

My son is seven. When he was little he had the most gorgeous curls - blond with red highlights. Now they are kind of light brown - yes I could have his hair highlighted. But I will not touch it - his hair color is nowhere near the most important part of him.

Never ever would I! I want my daughter to understand that she is beautiful just as she is. If I were to chemically alter any part of her it would send her a completely wrong message - plus my daughter has the same brunette with golden highlights I had my whole life and I love it on her. She got an American Girl for Christmas with the exact same color and highlights.

I doubt she even notices her hair color at this age. You're the one noticing it. Coloring hair is something kids can do when they are teenagers or older and come up with the idea and reasons behind it, in my opinion. Plus the chemicals are so bad for anybody really, but they'd be even worse for a growing child. Nope, I wouldn't consider it.

She'll probably get natural blonde highlights from the sun this summer. I had white blonde hair until I was about 8, when it darkened a lot. I always had sun-streaked hair.

For me....Absolutely not. Her hair is so pure, not to mention all the chemicals that she will be subjected to. There will be time enough for that when she is older. I personally cannot understand why moms would do this so young, yet have a huge issue with ear piercing. Again, this is one of those things that is quite contraversial and you either will do it or you won't. Although you may not be getting her a tattoo, many moms on here will consider it one in the same, so remember, it is a public forum and you did ask. She's your daughter and you will do whatever you want.

Ive not read other responses ...

I would not put highlights in a 6 yr old's hair. She has plenty of time to worry about that later and make and informed choice for herself. I'm also on the camp of moms who don't pierce ears because its my daughters body, not mine.

I allow my daughter to get color ( no highlights... Neither of us do highlights) and she started that sporadically around age 14. We just add shiner and a one step color.

If you start these things too early, it's just pushing the girls to grow up too fast not including how highlighting can damage hair.

Let her get a good growth of hair while she's young and nurture it so it will be healthy when she starts choosing to mess with it.... Add she will more than likely want to play with color, etc when she's older.

Good luck

I think this happens with a lot of children. Blonde as a child and eventually turns brunette.
I would say no on the highlights. It's terrible for their hair and all those chemicals- ugh no.
As a natural blonde, my hair has been basically the same shade of blonde my whole life. However, I do go through slightly darker periods in the colder months- I call that "winter blonde". Then the summer comes and it's back to "summer blonde". She'll most likely get those highlights this summer so just leave it be.

No.

My SD has had her hair messed with off and on since she was 8 or so. Sometimes it just looked horrible, and sometimes we had to deep condition or cut her hair to get it back to health. I would not color it and I would not tell my daughter I think her hair is unattractive. I would wait til she was at least 10 but better 13, IMO. Get her some pretty hair things instead. :)

IMHO I wouldn't chemically treat childrens hair until after puberty.

Hair is made up of three layers: the cuticle, cortex & medulla. Generally kids have really fine hair and that is because they haven't developed the outer layer of the hair strand (cuticle) yet.

If you try to perm or highlight the hair you not only won't get the desired results but it could really damage their hair.

Let the sun do it naturally, that's the best way.

No, not at that age.
My friends friend highlights her 9 year old daughters hair, and I'm not a fan.... :)

I guess I see it differently. I think it's more of an accessory rather than a negative message about body image. Though my daughter did ask about getting a green streak dyed into her hair when she was 6 and I said no. For me, it was the chemicals and the permanence of it. I did let her get a feather when that was popular and if she brings it up again, I will probably let her do what my hairdresser suggested - a colored extension.

My granddaughter wanted highlights for a year before we did it. It was a huge deal for her to get the box on her birthday a year ago. She was turning 8. I talked it over with a beautician and she said it would be fine. It was.

We used a frosting kit over the counter from Walmart. I did it myself and then used an extra cap and we split the substance over both our hair.

When we were done you had to look closely to see her highlights. I did very small strands so it would be hard to see and not blatant.

We did them again this past birthday and I did pull a tiny bit more hair through the holes but it's still a mild version of what it could be. I can see them and other can too, more than the one last year but it's not striped.

My daughter is 9 and sadly we live where the sun isn't out nearly enough to naturally highlight her hair. However, I've used lemon juice to help things along when playing with her hair. I will say that when I was a child I had natural bleach blonde hair until I hit my preteen years. Since then it's been a dark brown and I've dyed it since I was 12. I don't see there being any long term harm or risks if you were to highlight your daughter's hair. Life's too short to be so consumed with well she's too young......it's hair if you want to do it, do it. :)