Being the mum of two daughters, I've spent a good part of the past 13 years playing with hair. Up dos, down dos, braids, twists, ballet buns…you name it. My eldest girl has curly hair, and when she was young, she loved nothing more than having it blown straight so she could see how long it really was when it wasn't springing up over her shoulders.
Girls love playing with hair, is my point.
But when Crystal Harden recently shared a short video of her almost 2-year-old daughter Aiden after she'd used her hair straightener to straighten out her curls, people with lots of spare time leapt into action.
"Straightened my baby's hair yesterday – she's so gorgeous."
And she is. Check out that head of hair. My five year old still dreams of having that much hair.
But critics claim Crystal is Satan in disguise.
"Too young gonna damage her hair early on," said one, clearly of the unfounded belief that this was a daily ritual for the pair.
Another directed Crystal to, "Stop sexualising your daughter." Because we all know that babies with straight hair are just asking for trouble.
Another criticised Crystal for trying to make her daughter grow up too fast. "Let that baby be a damn baby!" they said.
Others were more supportive, with many commenting on Aiden's beautiful thick, shiny locks.
"Your baby is so perfect. And her hair is pretty. Do what you want with her as long as you don't hurt her you're fine. Don't let these people tell you what to do."
Crystal later said in an interview on Yahoo, "I received the negative reactions that the majority of people gave me from my own mum. She was like, 'Oh it was too mature to do her hair like that. You shouldn't have posted it. There are creeps out there.'"
But Crystal said Aiden had a lot of fun with her hair straightened. "She loved it. She was swinging her hair. I took her to the park and the wind was blowing. She just loved it."
Crystal insisted, "I don't want her to be preconditioned to think that she has to straighten her curls, because her hair is beautiful curly and it's beautiful straight. I just wanted [her] to see herself in a different light and know that she is beautiful any way that she dresses up or however she does her hair."
A mum who has some fun with her daughter and wants her to know she's beautiful no matter how she looks? Sounds like the internet has way bigger things to worry about than Crystal.