‘I wasn’t going to leave her in pain.’ Is This Woman Wrong For Shaving Her Niece’s Head?

There are a few expectations when you leave your kids with another person, whether they’re family or not.

One of those is that they will be returned to you looking more or less the way they did when they left.

This woman had charge of her niece, who has high-maintenance curly hair, since her sister was overwhelmed trying to care for her husband, who had a health crisis.

I’ll try to keep this short, my sister has a daughter and she is 4 years old. Lexi has super curly hair and needs her hair to be taken care of constantly.

My sisters husband ended up in the hospital and she has been a wreck. He has only been a week but she is destroyed and stopped brushing Lexis hair.

I was visiting with some premade meals and noticed the house and lexis hair was a mess. My sister wasn’t doing well so I offered to take Lexi for a bit so she can focus on her husband.

OP realized that her niece’s hair was hopelessly matted and causing her pain. She tried to get it out herself but couldn’t.

They went to a salon the following day but they also thought it would be a painful chore, quoting a high price or offering to just shave it.

I tried to fix her hair, it’s just matted. I couldn’t fix it. I went to a hair salon to see if they could fix it but it would be 50 dollars an hour for them to brush out the hair.

OP tried texting her sister for 2+ days before making the decision to shave the little girl’s head – the kiddo was grateful to be out of pain and it was easier to take care of.

My sister wasn’t picking up. So we had her head shaved the next day.

Lexi was fine with it, her head was hurting and yes we tried everything we could to get it out. Not to mention I called my sister and texted her multiple times and waited a whole day after the salon visit.

It was painful I wasn’t going to leave her in pain since her mom wouldn’t pick up.

OP’s sister was furious, though, so OP is wondering if she was wrong (or what she should have done instead).

I sent pictures when it was done and that finally got her to respond.

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 daughters hair.

You know Reddit is going to take sides!

The top commenter is not surprised that the sister was upset, but also doesn’t think OP did anything wrong.

Image Credit: Reddit

A few people suggested the sister would be glad in the long run, as the hair will be less to take care of while she’s overwhelmed.

Image Credit: Reddit

This person says the girl’s opinion is really the only one that should matter.

Image Credit: Reddit

And they point out it wasn’t just a cosmetic issue, after all.

Image Credit: Reddit

They think maybe the sister will even be grateful one day.

Image Credit: Reddit

The bottom line is that OP clearly had the kiddos best interests at heart.

I think everyone will simmer down and accept that, probably sooner rather than later.