'Mom Hair' Article Sparks Online Outrage Among Critics Calling it 'Mom Shaming'
Some moms are criticizing a New York Times article, calling it "mommy shaming."
— -- A recent article about so-called "Mom Hair" is sparking an online firestorm in the mommy blogosphere.
The New York Times style section recently ran a piece about new moms struggling with hair loss after pregnancy and deciding on a "longer-in-back, slightly-shorter-in-front bob," calling it "inescapably frumpy" and comparing it to "Mom Jeans," which in turn launched a wave of backlash from women across the web.
Ashley Austrew, a mother from Omaha, Nebraska, wrote a post on the blog, Scary Mommy, an online community for parents, criticizing the article for its condescending remarks and calling it mommy shaming.
"I don't know about you but I'm sick of having the word 'mom' continually used as a synonym for uncool, unflattering, unhip and sexless," Austrew wrote.
Even though celebrity moms like Michelle Williams, Miranda Kerr and Kris Jenner have been flaunting shorter looks and looking great, style critics have long seen motherhood as synonymous with general un-coolness.
"Saturday Night Live" poked fun at the connection between moms and poor style choices in a skit about "Mom Jeans" over three years ago. Then in May, the show mocked the inevitability of new mothers shearing off their sexy, long locks for "the cut."
Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist in New York City and author of "Your Best Age is Now," says she often sees mothers face societal stereotypes.
"Just because somebody has a baby, it doesn’t mean that they don’t wanna look good, that they don’t wanna look glamorous, and, if they don’t hit the mark right away, it’s an evolutionary process," she said.
She said shaming particular looks is unnecessary, especially when what really matters is having a haircut that makes a woman feel good about herself.
"They did a Harvard study where they found that women who got their hair done, cut, colored and blown out, the younger they thought they looked, the lower their blood pressure would go down, so it has a physiological effect," Ludwig said.