A woman says she shaved her niece’s hair after the girl’s mother didn’t answer the phone for three days.
On Reddit, the woman shared her 4-year-old niece has “super curly hair” which requires constant grooming. Recently, when she was tasked with watching her niece while her sister dealt with a medical emergency, the woman decided to shave the child’s head since it had become matted.
“My sister’s husband ended up in the hospital and she has been a wreck,” the woman wrote in her post. She explained that the stress of the emergency “destroyed” her sister,” who “stopped brushing” her daughter’s hair for a week.
“I was visiting with some pre-made meals and noticed the house and [my niece’s] hair was a mess. My sister wasn’t doing well so I offered to take [my niece] for a bit so she can focus on her husband,” the woman shared.
The woman says she “tried to fix her hair,” but it was so matted that she couldn’t. So, she took her niece to a salon.
“I went to a hair salon to see if they could fix it but it would be $50 an hour for them to brush out the hair,” she wrote.
Unable to reach her sister for three days, and with the child’s head “hurting” from all the tangles, the woman took matters into her own hands and got her niece’s hair shaved completely off.
“I sent pictures when it was done and that finally got her to respond,” she wrote, adding that it “resulted in a huge argument, with her saying how dare I do that and me pointing out I wouldn’t of had to if she brushed her daughter’s hair.”
Now the woman is now wondering if she made the right call by shaving her niece’s head.
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Reddit users backed her decision in the comments section.
“…You did the right thing. First … her hair will grow back. Second, if her mom is really in that bad of a place, her hair isn’t going to get taken care of for a while. It’s probably best to cut it short so Mom doesn’t have to worry about it. Third, you made the effort to fix it. Again, it doesn’t seem like Mom was going to do it, and if she was in pain after only a week, it was going to get much worse. I think, given the situation, you did the best you could,” one user wrote.
“…This child is actively being neglected because their parent is in a depressive state. Her hair is so matted she’s in pain. Her mom is clearly incapable of making decisions at this point, so I’m glad someone is doing something to help her,” another commented.
“It’s clear you care about your niece. She was in pain. What 4-year-old in pain is going to cooperate with someone brushing out [tangles] in their hair for HOURS? None,” someone else weighed in.
“Shaving the hair was a mercy. It will grow back. She will not be traumatized unless her mom continues to act like she lost an arm instead of just hair,” another wrote.