I've dyed my five-year-old son's hair rainbow colours

A mother who is often slammed by other women for wearing inappropriate outfits on the school run, has been praised for dyeing her son's hair rainbow colour.

Charlie Hayes, 22, from Folkestone, Kent, often faces criticism for wearing short skirts and fishnet stockings as she drops her son at school.

She has even been accused of child abuse for letting her five-year-old son, Jasper, grow his hair long.

Recently, she dyed her son's hair rainbow colour - but while some criticised her others said she was cool.

Charlie - who regularly posts on TikTok - said she wanted to experiment on her son to encourage independent thought.

She said: 'Self-expression and decision making is core of our identity. 

'Experimenting with your style from a young age encourages independent thought in my opinion.

'He may look back when he's older and feel embarrassed or silly, but it's an integral part of his journey as a human being.'

She added that her own style inevitably influenced her son's choice.

She said: 'My style is an eclectic amalgamation of every piece of art and entertainment I enjoy.

'I take influence from cartoons, music, books and films.

'I just like to become a visual collection of all of my thoughts.

'I think it's inevitable [that Charlie will be influenced], but he has his own strong personality and preference.

'For example, 80 per cent of my wardrobe is pink, but he hates pink.'

Charlie, 22, and Jasper live in Folkestone, Kent. The doting mother regularly posts about her outfits online

Charlie says one of her favourite colours is pink - but that her son Jasper doesn't particularly like it 

Jasper's hair, dyed in the colours of a rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet 

Although Charlie's style attracts compliments, she admits she gets a lot of hate from strangers. 

She said: 'Recently, I had one local woman target me from the seat of her boyfriend's car screaming out calling me "disgusting" and a "street walker", but I haven't let it get to me.

'I don't face much backlash in my day-to-day life.

'School-run parents hype me up and show overwhelming support.

'Most of the negative comments are received online, but I think in general, my love for the way I look has become contagious and really grown on people, even if it's never something they'd necessarily wear themselves.'

With regard to dyeing her son's hair, Charlie says that she checked with the school's uniform policy to make sure her son would not get into trouble.

She said: 'The school were totally OK with it. They didn't really tell me their personal opinion. They just said it's not against the uniform policy.'

And she said - despite usually facing criticism - many people have told her how they like the look.

Jasper, five, now has long hair dyed in rainbow colours - and he apparently loves his new exciting look  

Jasper has had long hair for a while and likes it but some people have criticised his mother online for making him look like a girl

Charlie regularly wears flamboyant outfits on the school run - but has attracted criticism mainly from other women 

One of Charlie's many outfits. She has said she will wear what she likes and doesn't care what others think

Sleeping beauty: Charlie loves posting photos of her outfits on social media, where she has thousands of followers

Pictured in pink: Charlie, 22, from Kent, says that wearing unusual clothes can be a form of self expression

Charlie says she encourages her son Jasper, five, (pictured) to play and dress in a gender neutral way 

Usually Charlie receives criticism online but after dyeing her son's hair in rainbow colours she also got lots of praise  

She said: 'Jasper said "I am so slay" so I think he likes it.

'I even had another mum ask me to do her boys hair rainbow, too.'

However, her parenting choices have attracted criticism from other parents who have left nasty comments online about her child's appearance.

She said: 'I find it quite amusing that somebody else's child's hair makes people so angry.

'It's a little funny. He doesn't seem too bothered about people trying to tell him long hair is for girls either, he just tells them it's not.'

Charlie took to TikTok to share her son's vibrant transformation, with the clip racking up 26,100 likes.

One user said: 'This. Letting children be children! Be authentically themselves.'

Another said: 'I'm trying to teach my son that colours are not gender specific and painting his nails is ok if he wants it!'

'You really are the coolest mum - I wish you was my mum growing up,' said another.

A fourth wrote: 'He looks amazing! My kids school would never allow this.'