After posting their emotional journey to the salon on TikTok, a Utah influencer has come under criticism for allowing her five-year-old little girl to bleach her hair.
Demi Lucy May Engemann, who describes herself as the “CEO of cool mom,” said this week that her daughter Maude was able to skip school for the day and join her for a mother-daughter hair appointment.
Her daughter requested if she could bleach her hair so she could put pink in it, the 28-year-old mother recounted at the beginning of the now-viral video, which has had over 9.7 million views.
@demilucymay_ Here’s your sign to say “yes” more 🥹 pure joy! ##HausLabsFoundation##momsoftiktok##mommydaughter##hairtok##utah##thatgirl##thatgirlaesthetic##girly##hair##momtok ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
Maude can be seen smiling cheerfully as the hair stylist separates her strands with foil and masterfully highlights her dark blonde hair.
Engemann stated in the on-screen caption, she was so delighted and felt so big.
Maude appeared to be having a great time at the salon, where she got to assist mix dye and nibble while her color set. She gave the camera a nice thumbs up at one point.
The small girl couldn’t wait to see her new appearance and began applauding as soon as the foils were removed from her hair.
She became really pleased when she saw how blonde hair was, said Engemann, who went for lowlights that day.
Bret Engemann, the influencer’s husband, brought them Starbucks and walked right past the room since he won’t realize his stepdaughter with her new hair.
Such a fantastic day with her girl, she concluded the video.
Engemann also released some before-and-after footage of Maude proudly displaying her new blonde hair, to mixed reviews.
While some regarded it as a nice mother-daughter moment, others were ready to shame her for letting her kid bleach her hair.
‘My mother did this to me as well, and it took me 18 years to feel comfortable and enjoy my true self as a brunette again,’ one commenter said.
‘My mum did this, and it only started years of dyeing and ruining my hair,’ said another, while a stranger just queried, ‘Why????’
‘Absolutely not,’ said one reviewer. ‘There are safe dyes to tint it pink, but bleaching it was out of the question.’
Despite the outrage, many people rushed to the mom’s rescue and commended her for allowing her kid to experiment with her look.
‘This is priceless. ‘She’ll remember this for the rest of her life,’ one fan remarked.
‘Life is so short, and this is so much joy,’ said another. This is undoubtedly a key memory for her.’
Engemann tackled the matter in her most recent video, stating she is ‘tired’ by all of the’mom shamers and trolls’ who have chastised her for bleaching Maude’s hair.
One is free to disagree, she said. However, the minute name calling or parent shaming begins because of one decision one disagree with, that’s when she is going to put an end to it.
Engemann revealed that her daughter had lately returned home from school and informed her about a classmate who had dyed her hair purple.
Right now, she’s obsessed with unicorns and Barbies. She stated she wanted to dye her hair pink, so they went to the market and bought a temporary pink shampoo, the mother added.
She was overjoyed at first, but after a few days, she was like, it’s not visible to her. It’s not appearing like her friend’s
Engemann explained to her kid that her friend’s hair color was showing up better since she has blonde hair.
That’s when she told her she wanted blonde in her hair so the color would show up more, she recounted.
She checked with the little girl’s father to make sure he was alright with it since she understands it’s a contentious issue, and he agreed that as long as they did it right, got her to a professional, and just did it correctly, it would be great.
Many users asked why her daughter’s hair wasn’t pink yet, and she answered that they were waiting until after their family photos were shot.
Engemann also explained why she decided to disclose the film, which led to her being chastised.
She released this video because it was such a beautiful and enjoyable bonding time with her kid, and it’s unfortunate that the internet has to turn it into anything terrible, she added.
@demilucymay_ Replying to @christinamariedaniels #greenscreen ♬ original sound – DemiLucyMay
