All-Star Hairgate 2015 - Mom Upset Daughter Is Off The Team Because She Wont Straighten Hair For Competitions

[Official OWECheer]

Yipes. I'm glad my parents let me watch WWF (now WWE) when I was the target age for Barney.

LOL.

And why is Sesame Street putting all of these non-family friendly celebs on their show? Ice Cube? Aziz Ansari? Huh?

 

[HeatUniqueJ]

On behalf of Americans, please accept my dearest apologies. Unfortunately a certain part of our population slept during their World History class and don't have a flarping clue what they're talking about. We're not all ignorant, I promise!

Don't worry i know you're not all like that there are enough germans over here that could have said something as stupid , i just always wonder what is going on in some peoples heads. Such a stupid comparison to make whenever we are talking about hair!!! Its hair :banghead:

 

[Pebbles49]

Okay so I used to just skim the boards you know to stay relevant on competition videos, new uniforms, etc. but I created an account because I saw this an it really related to me as an athlete.

So I'm an older cheerleader about 1 year from aging out and I go to a larger gym. I have extremely curly (or really kinky) hair that's kind of Afro-ish. My old gym (which was smaller with like 5/6 teams) used to require me to straighten my hair in order to compete.Since we competed so often straightening my hair that often was just not an option for us. The first year we turned to relaxers in order to get my hair straight and it always turned out dry, thin,and overall just really damaged. Going to school like that really shoke my confidence- freshman year of all years! So we set out to find an alternative hairstyle but we always had to stay within the requirements of the gym. We turned to braid but Had to get them really small to get it high enough for the ponytail required by the gym. Also I style I hated by natural hairstyle was "not good enough" (or at least that's how it felt to me then). That really just ruined competition for me. I always felt like I was a just a bad imitation of all my other teammates with their blond stick straight hair that was jacked all the way up to Jesus. I never felt confident on competition days and spent the whole day waiting to get on stage just to get off and take my hair down. Of course you can say it's just hair but it's always been such a big part of my life and it took me a really long time to come to terms with the fact that I looked different than everyone else and maybe just maybe that was a good thing.
So when I moved to my new gym and they tried to accommodate me and made "exceptions" for me it really meant a lot. They gave me head band to wear that matched the bows of everyone else on the team and basically to me that I was different and that that was something to be celebrated. It meant that I could finally go on stage as myself not a poor imitation of others.

And I think that's my favorite part of cheerleading, a bunch of girls who are all different coming together and bringing all their strength to make something really awesome. The only things that needs to be exactly the same in a cheer routine are jump/tumble timing technique and motions.

Especially since girls my age are so self conscious and are constantly being told what we should look like- you won't believe how many times I heard girls who are healthy weights call themselves fat. I'll personally never look like the perfect cheerleader it's just not possible for me so I would like to think that a gym wouldn't penalize me for that.

Honesty I probably would have left too (obviously wouldn't have done the whole media circus that's a little crazy) if I had not been informed ahead of time that I would have to straighten my hair-I wouldn't want to spend one of my few short years as a cheerleader feeling so uncomfortable and self conscious.

Don't know if any of that relates to what happened here as others have said there was probably more going on, but just thought I'd throw in my two cents as an athlete whose been through something similar.

TL;DR: cheerleaders are athletes who shouldn't be told they have to change their appearance to do what the love. It's not a pageant it's a competition.

Omg, I definitely agree with your testament and I am so happy you bravely told your experience... This is why I mentioned the sociological ramifications in this situation and I knew eventually the media will be all over this.

I wish I could give you 10,000,000 million shimmies, but I totally agree and understand your hair journey...

Fortunately for my daughter, she has a Mom who is able to put together hairstyles that meet the status quo and was at a gym that worked with all the differences... I still remember and applaud the Twinkles coach, who told me she did not care, just make it work!

 

[CheerBank]

Against my better judgement I just read the comments posted in a beauty blog/page I follow on Facebook, and 99% of the comments were against the mom.

Carry on with the derailment.

 

[Cheer Dad]

I heard the Westboro Church is going to protest.


**There can be only one**

 

[catlady]

Against my better judgement I just read the comments posted in a beauty blog/page I follow on Facebook, and 99% of the comments were against the mom. Carry on with the derailment.

I think most people understand this had to do with rules, however, I also believe many people look at this from the point of view that a high pony tail with a bow is uniformity. I play by the rules but, I agree with most of the outsiders, that a high pony tail is a high pony tail and this is where we come to an impasse on the performing arts versus athletic debate. This isn't a beauty pageant and their hair being straight or curly isn't being judged. No disrespect to WE, it is a rule, follow it, work with them or leave.

 

[ErinS]

Adult coloring books are 100% a thing. There's a section for them at Jo-Ann Fabrics!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We're doing an adult coloring program at my (former ) library


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MzLyn23]

Omg pix11 (nj) picked up the story!!! Omg this lady needs to stop!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MzLyn23]

U don't know how badly I want to call pix11 and tell them to stop giving this story more attention. Everyone (outsiders) are going to think that all cheer teams so straight ponytails and that's not the case at all.

I'm sorry but the only one holding the girl back from her cheering dreams is her mother. She refused to compromise. Why is ur daughters hair so special compared to others. And the way the phrased some things making this seem like a hate crime. It's ridonculous!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dance2874]

U don't know how badly I want to call pix11 and tell them to stop giving this story more attention. Everyone (outsiders) are going to think that all cheer teams so straight ponytails and that's not the case at all.

I'm sorry but the only one holding the girl back from her cheering dreams is her mother. She refused to compromise. Why is ur daughters hair so special compared to others. And the way the phrased some things making this seem like a hate crime. It's ridonculous!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Omg, that story makes me so angry! It's not that curly hair "doesn't fit in here". Not all teams require straight hair, many are curly and that's just as hard for some girls. But you know going into this that is part of the deal, especially if she has been doing this since she was 4. SUCH BS!

My daughter has hair that is very similar to that. Super thick, coarse, wavy and curly in some parts and not others. The past 2 yrs we had a straight style pony and I made it work. It meant using products to protect the hair and usually using a flat iron friday night and then again Sat am before we competed because it didn't stay straight. But we did it because that is what was required. This yr we have a "loose curls and teased pony" and I still have to basically straighten it then curl it to achieve the look, but we do it. I considered buying a hairpiece to save her hair from the teasing but haven't found one I like just yet.

There are options available, this lady just didn't want to use them. And from the wording in the WE statement, she has been asked to leave other gyms before....this is SO not about the hair. I really hope I see this story on tv where they accept calls in. Wish they were fairly presenting the other side of this story, because there definitely is one.

 

[coach12]

Ok I live in Connecticut and it made the local news here. Of course the headline reads "mother says daughter kicked off team for curly hair". Most people just read the headlines. So how bad does that make it look.
This crazy mother's 15 minutes of fame should be over now.
Let's move on --- it's competition season!

 

[123jump4!]

For me this is 2 issues:

1. Crazy mother almost got arrested by police at WE who were willing to compromise but mother didn't want to listen.

2. A general discussion about whether it's necessary to spend hours straightening or curling hair for cheer. Does it or does it not affect the score? Would just a high pony with a bow do?

 

[MzLyn23]

And u know what makes me even more angry is that she's making this all about her daughters hair!! Oh it's too curly yada yada yada.... U know what lady there are kids who DON'T have hair for many reasons, there are kids with super thin hair that is straight but they can't achieve the "ideal" slick teased pony etc.

Build a bridge and get over it!!!! U should be happy your daughter has such long thick hair!!!
Argh - sorry she just makes me so mad!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tator tots]

This just makes me realize how so called "news journalists" people just "parrot" what they hear. They don't look any farther really than what the crazy woman is spewing, then jump on the bandwagon thinking they have this hidden treasure of racism that goes on the the cheer world they know nothing about. If they keep up and the story gets bigger, its only a matter of time until this woman is shown to be the manipulative, cray cray woman she is and in the long run, only her daughter will be hurt by her...if she hasn't hurt her chances of cheering again by now.

I can't imagine ANY team wanting this girl now, with a mother like that. The cheer world talks too much and it doesn't have to be on the 6pm news for them to know. This mother is poison to any organization now.

 

[Official OWECheer]

For me this is 2 issues:

1. Crazy mother almost got arrested by police at WE who were willing to compromise but mother didn't want to listen.

2. A general discussion about whether it's necessary to spend hours straightening or curling hair for cheer. Does it or does it not affect the score? Would just a high pony with a bow do?

I think a lack of uniformity negatively impacts the score.