I’ve dyed my five-year-old son’s hair rainbow colours
A mother who is often scolded by other women for wearing inappropriate outfits at school is praised for dyeing her son’s hair rainbow colors.
Charlie Hayes, 22, from Folkestone, Kent, is often criticized for wearing short skirts and fishnet stockings when she drops her son off at school.
She has even been charged with child abuse for letting her five-year-old son, Jasper, grow his hair long.
She recently dyed her son’s hair a rainbow color – but while some criticized her, others said she was cool.
Charlie – who posts regularly on TikTok – said she wanted to experiment with her son to encourage independent thinking.
She said, “Self-expression and decision-making is at the core of our identity.
‘I think experimenting with your style from an early age stimulates independent thinking.
“He may look back when he’s older and feel embarrassed or stupid, but it’s an integral part of his journey as a human being.”
She added that her own style inevitably influenced her son’s choice.
She said, ‘My style is an eclectic amalgamation of every piece of art and entertainment that I enjoy.
‘I draw influence from cartoons, music, books and films.
‘I would like to become a visual collection of all my thoughts.
“I think it’s inevitable (that Charlie will be affected), but he has his own strong personality and preference.
“For example, 80 percent of my wardrobe is pink, but he hates pink.”
Charlie, 22, and Jasper live in Folkestone, Kent. The loving mom regularly posts online about her outfits
Charlie says pink is one of her favorite colors, but her son Jasper doesn’t like it very much
Jasper’s hair, dyed in the colors of a rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet
While Charlie’s style garners compliments, she admits she gets a lot of hatred from strangers.
She said: “Recently I had a local woman attack me from the seat of her friend’s car, yelling that she called me ‘disgusting’ and a ‘street runner’, but I didn’t let it get to me.
‘I don’t have many setbacks in my daily life.
“School-led parents hype me up and show overwhelming support.
“Most of the negative comments come online, but I think my love for the way I look in general has become contagious and really grown on people, even if it’s never something they would wear themselves.”
In regards to dyeing her son’s hair, Charlie says she checked the school’s uniform policy to make sure her son wouldn’t get in trouble.
She said, “The school was totally fine with it. They didn’t really tell me their personal opinion. They just said it’s not against the uniform policy.’
And she said — despite being criticized most of the time — a lot of people have told her how they like the look.
Jasper, five, now has long hair dyed in rainbow colors – and he apparently likes his new exciting look
Jasper has had long hair for a while and likes it, but some people have criticized his mom online for making him look like a girl
Charlie regularly wears flamboyant outfits at school, but is mostly criticized by other women
One of Charlie’s many outfits. She has said she will wear what she likes and doesn’t care what others think
Sleeping Beauty: Charlie likes to post pictures of her outfits on social media, where she has thousands of followers
Pictured in pink: Charlie, 22, from Kent, says wearing unusual clothes can be a form of self-expression
Charlie says she encourages her son Jasper, five, (pictured) to play and dress gender neutrally
Charlie usually gets criticized online, but after she dyed her son’s hair rainbow colors, she also received a lot of praise
She said, “Jasper said, ‘I’m so lethal,’ so I think he likes it.”
“I’ve even had another mom ask me to do her boy’s rainbow hair too.”
However, her parenting choices have drawn criticism from other parents who have left nasty comments online about her child’s appearance.
She said, “I think it’s kind of funny that someone else’s kid’s hair makes people so angry.
‘It’s kind of funny. He doesn’t seem too concerned about people trying to tell him that long hair is for girls too, he just says it isn’t.’
Charlie took to TikTok to share her son’s vibrant transformation, with the clip racking up 26,100 likes.
One user said, ‘This. Let kids be kids! Be authentically yourself.’
Another said, “I’m trying to teach my son that colors aren’t gender specific and that it’s okay to paint his nails if he wants to!”
“You really are the coolest mom – I wish you were my mom when I was growing up,” said another.
A fourth wrote: ‘He looks great! My children’s school would never allow this.’