Posted
by By Giorgina Angela
Those of you who, like me, take a keen interest in celebrities and their lives, would have noticed by now the increase of celebrity kids having bleached or dyed hair. Kingston Stefani whoops, I mean Rossdale and Pax and Maddox Jolie-Pitt have all sported bleached do's. Maddox Jolie-Pitt was once of the first. As a toddler his mohawk style had a blonde trim. He soon then had that dyed blue.
Here's the thing: is this the parents choice or the childs? Is a kid as young as Kingston Rossdale old enough to even realise what hair dye is? And then, is he old enough to make an informed choice of that being what he wants? Perhaps in the case of Kingston, he has seen his mummy have her hair dyed many, many, many times. So perhaps in that household, it was natural to do so?
Yet in the case of the Jolie-Pitts, the two children to have bleached their hair are ones both of asian decent. Their black hair is that much harder to bleach. Is it safe to bleach a child's hair? Are the chemicals, which can cause bad reactions in adults, that much worse for kids?
P&G Beauty Science certainly reccomends against it. They state: 'It is not advisable to highlight or bleach a child's hair either at home or in a salon. If a child's hair has already been coloured, highlighted or bleached, we recommend it not to be repeated.'
Yet is it harmful? Have there been any studies linking hair dye in kiddies with any severe reaction or disease? Well, according to a report filed by network WBZ in America, there are some early reports that dying a child's hair can be dangerous.
Research carried out in new England has linked prolonged exposure to hair dye to an elevated risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, so kids starting it at an early age becomes a concern.
However, it seems that the biggest risk may be psychological. By dying a child's hair, we are allowing that child to partake in an 'adult' activity, thus allowing the child to grow up too quicky, and not fully appreciate the assets of childhood.
All I know is that as a child I was certainly not allowed to dye my hair. I remember on an occasion at the age of fifteen I had some barely-noticable highlights put in my hair and my mother freaked. Yet to me, her reaction was normal for most parents at the time. Would you allow your child to have their hair dyed at a young age? How young is too young?
It is an interesting debate which will only gather more steam as more and more Hollywood parents allow it to happen to their children.
