Not a Beyonce fan but if I see one more damn article about her kid's hair. I bet some people don't even care about the kids in their family's hair as much as they do this kid.
Leave Blue Ivy’s Hair Alone!
Opinion writer comments on the policing of Black hair ...
By Krishana Davis
In the past three or four years as natural hair has become more
mainstream—kinky curls are popping up on the heads of actresses in
television commercials, curly girl products are invading the aisles of
your local Target and blogs and vlogs dedicated to natural hair care are
swarming around the web. With nearly as much speed, an army of women,
some natural and others not, have popped up in the comments section of
posts about natural hair to critique, comment on and often slander
women’s choices as they go through their natural hair journey.
With emergence into the realm of mainstream culture comes the pop culture police.
Since the birth of Blue Ivy Carter, daughter to Queen Beyoncé and one
of hip-hop’s greatest Jay Z, social media sites such as Twitter and
Instagram have been in an uproar about the now 2-year old’s appearance,
more recently, her hair.
The criticism: how could Bey and Jay, multi-millionaires, allow Blue Ivy to leave the house with her hair “un-styled”?
Blue Ivy, like many 2-year olds of any race, appears to have hair
growing at different paces with some sections longer than others. This
uneven rate of growth is often most easily noticed in Black hair, which
is traditionally more curly or coarse in texture.
Blue Ivy’s hair IS growing, but it is short and fragile, which is normal for a child her age.
Beyoncé’s decision not to snatch her daughter’s short hair so tight
in hair ballies that she is missing her edges by the time her starts
kindergarten is her decision. It is also Beyoncé’s decision, as Blue
Ivy’s mother, not to slather tons of jam and Blue Magic hair grease into
her daughter’s hair to manipulate it into a style that is apparently
more “aesthetically pleasing” to the masses.
The fact that hundreds of grown women feel the need to critique or
comment on the hairstyle of a 2-year old, no matter how “wild” or
“carefree” it may appear, shows a deep engrained taught fear that Blacks
should never leave the house without looking put together or “done.”
Self-hate is so rooted in the psyche of many African-Americans that a
majority of us no longer look to the Euro-centric majority to tell us
that our full lips or kinky hair is not up to par.
We no longer need to wonder if we didn’t get a job we were well
qualified for because we rocked a twist-out on the interview. We no
longer need to be concerned when we get our hair patted down while going
through the security check at the airport. We no longer need to worry
about what the popular White majority thinks of our natural hair,
because we are policing ourselves.
We are policing and shaming ourselves, so now even when Black women
want to be natural, they are being told by others which curl patterns
look the most acceptable–causing women of more kinky textures to resent
their hair—and even which natural hair styles are the most appropriate
for an office job.
Blue Ivy is a toddler. If you have a toddler or have ever been around
children, you know the way they leave the house is often not the way
they come back. Toddlers roll around and pull on their hair and
clothing. For Black baby girls, this may mean that your hair looks
nothing it did when you left the house because you have pulled out your
ballies and beads and taken off that itchy headband mommy put on you.
Blue Ivy’s hair does not need policing.
When ‘Bradgelina’ adopted their Ethiopian daughter Zahara, there was
tons of discussion on the young girl’s hair as she was often
photographed with a short afro. Her hair was regularly labeled “wild”
and “unruly,” causing ample speculation about whether or not she was
receiving adequate care and presenting the realities of transnational
cross-race adoption.
Zahara is the child of one of the wealthiest celebrity couples in the world…I doubt she is receiving subpar care.
Singer, actress Willow Smith has also bore the brunt of the policing
of Black hair, as hundreds of women took to social media to express
their disapproval of Will and Jada Smith’s decision to allow Willow
shave off one side of her hair. Willow, like Blue Ivy, is not your child
and therefore does not require your permission to make alterations to
her hair.
If Will and Jada have given their children permission to push the
limits of their creativity when it comes to self-expression and
individualism, who are we to police that?
The policing of Black hair does not even end when a black teenager
becomes an Olympic gold medalist. The rude comments and remarks about
the hair of Gabrielle “Gabby” Douglas,
who won individual and team gold medals in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Games,
overshadowed her accomplishments on the balance beam and during her
floor exercises.
Social media and reality TV has made so many fans feel like they
“know” the celebrities they follow and watch. You don’t know them and
they don’t require your expertise when it comes to their decisions to
raise their children.
Beyoncé and Jay Z’s decision to allow their baby’s hair to be
carefree and “wild” is a decision they get to make as parents. They do
not seek the approval of the masses to make decisions for their child,
the same way other parents do not seek approval for their own children.
Black hair doesn’t need policing.
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Jr1127 wrote:
