# Ought a 7-yr old comb their hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2022, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178 "2022-06-30T12:06:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/21 "2022-06-30T19:03:20Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > She does not have any extreme personality issues, nor am I of the school of parenting, that I think things as basic as that ought to be “battles.” My oldest one throws an absolute fit. So I don’t bother. If she doesn’t care how she looks, I don’t care how she looks. If somebody thinks I’m a bad parent for letting her out like that, let them think that. Like I said, I have no shits to give. If it doesn’t affect her social life, what do I care? At any rate, before my wife combs it, it doesn’t look particularly ratty to me, so I don’t think it’s a big deal, either. I honestly don’t notice it. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/22 "2022-06-30T19:03:22Z")
The only time I combed my hair between the age of 7 and 17 was for school pictures. Was it right or wrong? It’s up to the parents to decide. I do know other than the fact that my mom kept my hair short, no one cared. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/23 "2022-06-30T19:14:56Z")
Good post/screen name combination. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/24 "2022-06-30T19:16:18Z")
🤣I suffered the same predicament! Mom had a pump spray of detangler that did squat, the rats nest had to be forced combed out. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/25 "2022-06-30T19:27:43Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > So if you were a kid - or you took your kid to the playground, everything else being equal would you gravitate towards the kid whose hair was unkempt and clothes stained? Probably. They’d look like they’d been having fun in the dirt. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > no, this 7 yr old is not intentionally styling her hair to resemble some hip “messy” do. Not what I meant. I just meant that there’s no single agreed on way of how hair should look. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/26 "2022-06-30T19:32:46Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I didn’t think I was staking out an extreme position by proposing the desirability of dredging a comb thru a kid’s pixie cut before showing up at a gathering of aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents. Or before hosting one’s birthday party. Lot’s of parents (and probably grandparents) feel that way. It’s not unusual. My guess is that you’re in the majority of U.S. parents on this question. However, these kids’ parents don’t feel that way, and I’d also guess a sizable minority feels like they do. You didn’t ask what you should do about it. In my humble opinion, you defer to the parents can keep your mouth shut except in the unlikely event they ask you for your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/27 "2022-06-30T19:55:36Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > You didn’t ask what you should do about it. In my humble opinion, you defer to the parents can keep your mouth shut except in the unlikely event they ask you for your opinion. Definitely. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/28 "2022-06-30T22:08:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > I didn’t think I was staking out an extreme position by proposing the desirability of dredging a comb thru a kid’s pixie cut before showing up at a gathering of aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents. Or before hosting one’s birthday party. I mean, I think children’s hair often looks nice when neatly trimmed and combed, but if a 7-year-old wants to wear a short hairdo messy and uncombed, it doesn’t bother me. If the hair was obviously dirty or matted or had debris caught in it, that would bother me. ISTM that “kid wears short hair perpetually uncombed” is about in the same category as “kid wears sneakers with laces perpetually untied” was, back in the day. Or “kid wears shirt with shirttail perpetually not tucked in”, back in an even longer-ago day. Namely, it’s a grooming choice that some people find unacceptably untidy (except perhaps in the most casual circumstances) and some people don’t care about at all (except perhaps in the most formal circumstances). My unsolicited advice would be that you enjoy combing your granddaughter’s hair when you happen to be supervising her and she lets you comb it, and tell her how nice she looks once it’s combed. (And of course keep an eye out for any actual abnormal hair or scalp conditions, though I doubt that will be an issue.) And for the rest of the time, when the sight of her uncombed hair bothers you, just keep repeating to yourself “shoelaces shirttails, shoelaces shirttails” to remind yourself that what looks distressingly “unkempt” to you may not be an issue at all for others. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178/29 "2022-06-30T22:11:47Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > My unsolicited advice would be that you enjoy combing your granddaughter’s hair when you happen to be supervising her and she lets you comb it, and tell her how nice she looks once it’s combed. (And of course keep an eye out for any actual abnormal hair or scalp conditions, though I doubt that will be an issue.) > > And for the rest of the time, when the sight of her uncombed hair bothers you, just keep repeating to yourself “shoelaces shirttails, shoelaces shirttails” to remind yourself that what looks distressingly “unkempt” to you may not be an issue at all for others. Excellent advice. I follow the same in matters concerning my grandchildren and the relationships within are going very nicely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ought-a-7-yr-old-comb-their-hair/967178.md?page=1)