Parents, bloggers and netizens of all stripes have been up in arms over the last week because of a hair-raising infant accouterment: the baby wig.
"I'm pretty sure that we as a society have just officially beat our own record of 'youngest age to expose a child to daft and absurd gender policing.' We've done it, guys. We have all contributed to a world in which something like 'the baby wig' can exist," wrote Jezebel's Callie Beusman last Thursday.
Beusman wasn't exaggerating. Baby wigs are actually a thing -- an accessory that parents can buy to cover their bald babies' heads.
Baby Bangs, for instance, an online shop that sells "ready2wear" wigs made "just for little girls," promises to provide wigs that will help hairless infants achieve "beautifully realistic" hairstyles.
"For the girl who has everything -- except hair," the shop declares on its website:
(Screenshot of Baby Bangs website)
"In case your infant daughter hasn't developed body image issues yet, parents can start cultivating a lifelong obsession with looks and beauty with Baby Bangs," MSN wrote over the weekend, noting that "baby wigs" had been a trending topic at the time of writing.
As Ilana Wiles, mom of two and blogger at Mommy Shorts, pointed out, Baby Bangs isn't the only place where one can buy hairpieces for infants. At novelty gift retailer Stupid.com, for instance, a baby afro can be purchased for $8.95, and at Bebe Doos, "Perfect Ponies" pigtail hairpieces are offered for $20 apiece.
Wiles also noted her preference for these Cabbage Patch Kids "wigs."
"THIS, my friends, is a baby wig I can get behind," she wrote of the crocheted toupees.
Absurdly, marketing adult clothing and accessories toward kids isn't rare. Baby bikinis, baby high heels and nipple tassels for toddlers have caused us to raise our eyebrows in the past.
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