“Why don’t they do something about that baby’s hair?”
Blue Ivy, the 2-year-old year old daughter of superstar couple Jay Z and Beyoncé, is arguably the most famous baby on the planet. While Prince William and Kate Middleton‘s son, George, and North West, the baby daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are also vying for the title, there can be little debate that baby Blue gets the most scrutiny — and sadly, the most derision. The little girl’s visibility has made her a target of a ridiculous amount of criticism — criticism that is aimed at her but surely meant for her uber-famous parents. Last week, as Jay and Bey celebrated Blue’s second birthday at a theme park in Florida, pics surfaced of the tyke that sent the Web into a tizzy. What was the furor over, you ask?
Her hair.
That’s right — a 2-year-old’s hair became the subject of controversy — railed about on countless blogs, picked apart on numerous entertainment news shows and networks; Blue Ivy’s supposedly unsightly hair became fodder for cruel memes and Twitter rants. This bit of trivial nonsense shouldn’t command that much attention, but the backlash against the baby does serve as a troubling reminder of the issues so many people still have with black folks’ hair. It also served to remind us that we are still far from learning to embrace our hair without shame or ridicule.
At the 2012 Olympics, gold medalist Gabby Douglas also had to endure criticism because some people believed her “nappy” hair served as a poor representation. A youngster who had just achieved her career pinnacle on the world’s biggest stage was being lauded for representing her country so well, only to be trashed because we didn’t feel that she represented “us” well enough. When Willow Smith cropped her hair for a close cut, the public speculated about the pre-teen’s emotional stability and her famous parent’s abilities to raise their daughter.
All of this because of hair?
However anyone wants to wear their hair is their business; but the level of contempt for unadulterated black hair serves as a detriment to us as a people — all over the globe. With so much scrutiny surrounding skin-lightening and so much rhetoric regarding black beauty, how can we claim to be a progressive-minded people when we cling to such constrictive ideas about who we are? How can we ever become mentally and culturally empowered if we shake our heads every time we’re presented with our true selves?
Blue Ivy’s hair is just fine. As she gets older, she’ll make various choices about her look. And we’ll pick her apart for it. But stop and think before you dismiss “nappy” hair and bash anyone who doesn’t use chemicals to straighten their hair. Remember what we are fighting to overcome. If our skin is so beautiful, why do we act like our hair is so ugly?
Our minds — and our hair — could stand to be a little less conditioned.
