WOW! what a suspicious bunch of guys! I am indeed British, Welsh in fact. You are right We do not usually say Mom here. In Wales it is Mam. I thought if I put Mam, being it is a mainly US website, then people would not understand the word, so I put Mom, which is more commonly used in the US.
The reason I do not publish a picture of my son is because I am worried of certain people on the internet.
I was merely amazed to see the website, as men or boys with long hair are very few and far between where we live. I have real trouble finding any sort of hair accessory that isn't either Barbie pink or has some frilly attachment. I was looking on the internet for hair elastics to tame his unruly curls and came across your site.
I thought I would just give my support but I don't know if I did the right thing now. It seems to have sparked off some kind of wierd controversy.
My son is very independent and bright. We just went to his annual school review yesterday and his teacher says he is well above average, having the academic ability of an 8 year old, He is only just coming up to 5. So he is quite capable of sticking up for himself when confronted by the anti long hair brigade.
I have never met with such suspicion before. I guess you must have had some bad experiences in the past with strange posters or something.
Nice to know about the pronunciation.
Congrats upon supporting yr kid's long hair.
Actually, I did reply to your post and gave some advice, I had no suspicions at the time, so I gave some advice which I hope you can use. (about dry ends, etc.) It is true that we did have an incident a month or so back, that may have caused some people here to be a bit suspicious, I won't get into specifics right now. Actually, even though most people here are from the U.S, there are people from all over the world here with a wide variety of cultures, everyone is welcome. I did not ask for pictures in my reply to your earlier post as I realize that you may wish to respect your son's privacy, it's true, there are predators out there on the internet. All the best.
David
You may be right, I think in the past there have been some posters that tried to get thier jollys by faking their identity and stringing people along. Anyway, kudos for being an open minded woman and mom!
Bruce
I didn't get a chance to respond to your original post, but I did read it. Personally, I wasn't suspicious at all. I understand that there have been a few incidents of people making stuff up on here for whatever reason, but I didn't get that vibe from your post. You seem very sincere.
Anyway, I think it's great that you are letting your son grow his hair so young. Most little boys don't even have that choice. It's also nice to hear that he stands up for himself and has his own opinions. It sounds like you are raising a very independent, smart child. Keep it up =)
Hi Mom,
First, I apologize for being suspicious of your post, but over the years, there have been similar posts that did turn out to be "prank" posts by various tricksters.
That being said, I am glad you found the site and please feel free to participate. Female support is always appreciated, and gives a different perspective to things. I am happy to hear that your son enjoys having his hair long at such an early age. Also, it's great that he stands up for himself and does well in school. Had I such a child, I would not post his picture either.
Many happy returns and CYMRU AM BYTH!!!
Bragi
You are more than welcomed here! Please feel free to post and respond.
I know what you mean about posting pictures for children (I have a son who is five). You might want to consider a picture from the backside that doesn't show his face.
Again, welcome & please come back and participate!
Hi there, I hope I can help you. Here is a photo of the best hair tie to use on long hair. It also shows the last 16 inches of my ponytail with 3 ties on it. Notice it has no metal in it. They are made of soft cloth. I use them on my hair, which is well over 3 feet long. These come in many colours other than pink and don't have any frilly attachments. Where to get them is the next issue. Do you have Walmart or Longs in England? These soft cloth hair ties are mostly made in China. They are abundantly available in the US and very cheap. If you don't have Walmart or Longs, try a discount store of some kind. £1.00 should buy about 50 of them.
As for us being suspicious, we have had a number of troll posts here in the past, that were similar in subject to yours. I know you are real.
Finally, you are doing the right thing by not showing his face on the internet. If you want to show their hair, it is best to show a young child from the back, never show their face. A couple of years back one parent disguised the face of a child so his hair could be seen from the front. (a white oval or a smiley face covering their real face) I hope that my advice has been helpful.
Absalom
Asda in the UK is owned by Walmart. Whether they have the same stuff is an issue of course, but I'm told they often do. If Absalom buys his hair bands in Walmart, there is a fair chance they have the same ones in Asda. I was dissapointed when I first came over here to find that Safeway in the US don't have the same things as in the UK, though.
Absalom is on the West coast, and I've never heard of Long's on the East coast, much less in the UK. Very few US chains of shops are even national, and only a tiny number are international, because it's such a large country.
I'm English and live in the US. I have to use American words for things in RL to be understood, so when I'm on the net I don't! (Or I try not to, but I'm getting corrupted, LOL!). There are far more people who speak the Queen's English than speak American as a matter of fact, although most of them live in India!
Our son had long hair until he was 8, then had it cut due to peer pressure at school, then started to grow it again when he was 12 (he's now 13). I am all for it. I have seen comments from a few long haired men who think that boy's hair should be kept short until they are old enough to make their own decision, but IMHO they are wrong.
Your son is very lucky to have a parent who is as supportive as you. Both my parents are very authoritive, understandable because they grew up with an authorterian government, my dad spent much of his teens in the military academy and most of adulthood as a high ranking officer in the miltiary. Therefore they did not take my decision of growing hair too well. I normally do not really like boys to grow long hair because as a young person it is impossible to tell sexes apart, also the child would face attack and bullies that would hurt them psychologically. However if the boy wants to grow his hair long I would have a talk with him and discuss possible consequences and make sure he is aware of it. I wish most parents would do this these days whenever a kid wants to do something... alot of parents either force their will on them without explaining why things should be so, or just leave them to rot or spoil them.