How To Fix Your Hair Like Justin Bieber

An image of Kylie Jenner taking a selfie with cornrows. An arrow points to her head saying "nope."

Source: Everyday Feminism

Got questions about why people get mad when white folks wear traditionally Black hairstyles? Well, you've come to the right identify – I'g one of those people who's riled upward about it, and I've got answers.

Many people are wondering about this topic subsequently the most recent public example of Black pilus cribbing: Kylie Jenner's cornrows.

So perhaps your commencement question is this: Why the hell do I intendance virtually what some teenager does with her hair?

Here'due south your answer: This conversation isn't just near pilus. And it's not only about Kylie Jenner. Her latest iteration of cultural appropriation is just a drop in the bucket that's been filling up for centuries.

Then if this seems to you like a trivial effect, don't worry – we're going to go to why it really matters.

Simply since this incident started this electric current conversation, here's what's going on with Kylie:

The white, younger sis of Kim Kardashian posted a photo of herself wearing cornrows.

Then, 16-year-old Amandla Stenberg (best known for playing Rue on The Hunger Games earlier becoming best known for inspiring widespread awe with her summary of cultural appropriation) made me applaud my computer screen once once more. She pointed out exactly what's wrong with this picture:

Jenner's using her fame to call attending to her pilus, which mimics Blackness culture, but not to the racist violence taking Black lives.

And so Justin Bieber defended Jenner – and the approving squeals of fangirls rang out 'round the globe. Now, the public is weighing in.

I tin can't believe I'k about to say this, merely the Biebs has a indicate hither. I don't agree that Jenner should be free from responsibility for her wrongdoing, simply he's correct when he says that she's but one girl who fabricated a mistake – and there'southward a bigger picture we need to pay attending to here.

We tin start by talking well-nigh her hair, but if that'south all we talk most, we'll miss the chance to learn something valuable about how mundane actions, like the manner you vesture your hair, can make a huge argument well-nigh whether or not you value people of colour who are struggling with the atrocities of oppression every solar day.

And you'll notwithstanding exist left with questions, similar why was this such a large deal? Permit's answer your questions.

This is what the uproar over appropriation of Black women'due south hair is really all most.

i. "Why Can't We All Just Be Equals and Share Our Cultures?"

I go information technology. I say I'thou all about equality, merely you recall I'grand pulling for the reverse – stating that merely sure people should wearable sure hairstyles based on skin colour.

But there's one major detail you have to think nearly when it comes to equality: the reality we live in.

Information technology'south true that we're "all human, whether we're black, white, dark-green, or purple."

I've heard it all before, and information technology sounds pretty cracking – all beingness treated then as that you can wear any hairstyle yous desire without harming anyone.

In a truly equal world, you wouldn't have to recall about if you have power and privilege over the people you lot're borrowing culture from.

Unfortunately, that's not the world we alive in. In our globe, systems of oppression create power dynamics between different groups of people.

In the United states, for case, white people get the unearned benefits of having the ascendant culture.

And all of us – but especially women – bargain with a ascendant paradigm of beauty that'south completely unrealistic. None of usa are free from existence body-shamed nigh all of the reasons our hair, body, teeth, or skin are not what someone else says they should be.

Simply for women of color, that unrealistic beauty ideal is even further out of reach.

The popularity of Eurocentric images says that being beautiful ways being white, and that "normal" pilus is fine and silky – nix like my kinky natural African hair.

That type of hair is considered such a norm that mainstream stores don't have products for me unless they're selling the take chances to change – to permanently alter my hair'due south texture with straightening chemicals.

And institutional barriers discourage me from wearing my pilus every bit it grows out of my caput – I'm more than likely to find and keep jobs if I come across standards of professionalism that frequently ban Black women's natural hairstyles.

White women confront sexism, and they may be oppressed in other ways, likewise – through ableism, classism, or fatphobia, for example. But when it comes to race, white women have more institutional power than Blackness women.

So while nosotros should exist treated as equals, nosotros're non . A white woman is free to accept on and accept off the aforementioned hairstyle that a Black woman would be ostracized for.

Until we right that imbalance, and so when Kylie Jenner wears cornrows, she's acting on privilege and exploiting Blackness civilisation. She's participating in a toxic norm that says Blackness people aren't valuable, simply our hair is cool – equally long as white folks are wearing information technology.

That's not okay. If she really thinks Black folks are cool and wants to award our culture, she should aid eradicate the inequality between us instead.

ii. "What Near When Black Women Straighten Their Pilus?"

Since social club treats white women as more valuable, Black women don't have the same context when they brand their pilus expect more like the dominant norm.

In the United states, people accept a variety of reasons for straightening their hair, just for many Blackness women, it's a thing of survival, non just preference.

When you tin't find work unless yous exercise it, you have to have such activity to become by.

I can attest to how differently people treat Blackness women depending on the style of our pilus. In one example from a lifetime of microaggressions, a high school teacher said my straightened hair looked "and so much better than those knots" I usually wore.

I'd straightened information technology temporarily, for a schoolhouse dance. My 15-year-old self was filled with the dreadful reminder that I'd be considered less beautiful when I returned to my twists – the "knots" he'd sneered about – after the fashion washed out in a couple days.

When a marginalized group takes on elements from the dominant culture in order to survive, that's called assimilation.

Information technology's different from cribbing, when the dominant grouping takes from an oppressed group without respect for the culture they're taking from.

I didn't e'er know the give-and-take "assimilation," but I've always felt the force per unit area of it. Like many other Blackness girls, I grew up with that pressure level fifty-fifty within my ain family unit, from my mother, aunts, and grandmother, who were harshly ridiculed for kinky hair.

In our family, the protective beloved women showed girls looked like teaching us that our ain hair was ugly and unkept.

Even now, things are slowly irresolute from how information technology was for them and I've institute work spaces open to my natural pilus. But I couldn't tell my aunties that – if I ever cease up solitary in a room with one of them, they're bound to try to accept a straightening comb to my head for what they believe is my own expert.

That'southward the lasting impact of the pressure level to survive past plumbing equipment in with white civilization.

A white adult female who wears dreadlocks is interim on her privilege to have that hairstyle and still get past, and even to get positive attention for her pilus.

Meanwhile, a Black woman with dreads gets treated like she's junior merely because her hair doesn't look like a white person's. And then she's more probable to straighten information technology but to survive.

3. "Why Are You Trying to Limit Freedom?"

Maybe you're stuck on the idea that if you're a white person, y'all "can't" article of clothing your hair a certain style.

That hinders your liberty. And equally big fan of liberation, I get why that feels fucked up. It'south your hair and you should be able to do whatever you lot desire with information technology.

A lot of people recollect fugitive cultural appropriation ways policing self-expression.

They say I'm calling for locking people upward just for pain feelings.

First, can I request that we ease up on the hyperbole when we talk about this? Because I'thou not out to outlaw hairstyles, and nosotros can refer to plenty of existent-life consequences of cultural appropriation without exaggeration.

Cultural appropriation is never equally simple as saying, "White people aren't allowed to exercise X, period." Information technology'due south about saying information technology's ethical to consider the context of what you're doing.

That includes learning most and giving credit to the true meaning of what yous're borrowing, instead of doing what Iggy Azalea does and gaining fame and fortune by imitating someone else.

It means recognizing where it came from, instead of doing what Elle UK just did and calling baby hair "a new trend" when Black women have been wearing it for decades.

It too means leaving something lonely if you acquire that information technology's not possible to borrow information technology in a respectful way, like blogger HaifischGeweint did when they researched dreadlocks and decided not to wear them.

Membership Body 2

When people object to cultural appropriation, nosotros're not complaining for zippo – and it'southward insulting to say that nosotros are. Because we're letting you know that even if you have harmless intentions, your touch on is causing harm.

As the people who have to suffer through that harm, Black folks know what we're talking about when nosotros say that appropriating our hairstyles is fucked upwardly. There'south a lot more at stake than limiting your "free speech communication" when you're actually contributing to other people's oppression.

iv. "Where Do Yous Depict the Line? Why Are You Trying to Segregate People?"

One of the trickiest parts of cultural cribbing is knowing where to draw the line. People debate that we share between cultures all the time, which helps united states grow as people.

And believe me, I know Blackness hair is gorgeous, then I appreciate that you desire to capeesh it.

That's why there's a divergence between cultural substitution – when people freely share appreciation for one some other's cultures – and cultural appropriation.

If people can share as and benefit without damage, that's fantastic.

But and then some people start to wonder why nosotros should depict lines between cultures – after all, we're striving to be equal, right?

I'thousand not trying to divide united states of america. But once once more, permit'due south consider reality: when information technology comes to things like who gets more positive representation in the media, and who'south less likely to get killed by police, and who's more than likely to find employment, there's a clear difference betwixt me and a white woman.

The differences between usa also include things that should be celebrated. Being Blackness comes with disadvantages in this society, like being profiled and stereotyped, but it also comes with things I love. I'1000 proud of my Blackness.

So when someone takes a piece of what my Blackness means to me, and puts information technology on like my identity is a costume, I feel like that's all I am to them. Some minstrel show, some grapheme, some two-dimensional stereotype of a person yous can both mock and steal grade.

It'southward the ultimate class of objectification.

If y'all treat my look similar something you can borrow when it brings you lot value and discard when it becomes useless, then you trivialize both my struggles and the beautiful things about what being Black means to me.

Retrieve of it this way: It's not segregation, but commemoration. The problem is the unjust means order treats our differences – not the fact that our differences be.

v. "Are Yous Maxim I'm a Bad Person If I Have One of These Hairstyles?"

It's hard to eat the idea that yous could be causing harm when you don't want to.

That'southward why I'm not saying you're a bad person, even if you're guilty of appropriating another culture'southward traditional hairstyle. I don't know yous or your intentions, and judging your graphic symbol is not the point of pointing out how white supremacy shows upwardly. In short, it's not just nigh you.

Only like this conversation isn't just virtually Kylie Jenner's hair, cultural cribbing isn't nearly saying whatsoever ane individual person is evil. The point is to be aware of how systems of oppression bear witness up in our everyday lives.

White supremacy is an example of a system. The media is an case of a structure that supports white supremacy, by showing positive images of white people and negative stereotypes of people of color. And you are one individual who consumes media, and acts on the ways they influence your view of the globe.

And so if you've ever thought a white girl with braids looked "quirky" and a Black daughter with braids looked "ghetto," that's not a sign that you're the 1 True Source of All Of White Supremacy.

But it is an example of how white people as individuals tin participate in the arrangement of white supremacy, and of how Blackness people can become hurt.

That'due south why irresolute our everyday deportment is a big part of creating alter on a societal level.

half-dozen. "What If My Blackness Friend Says Information technology's Okay?"

Sorry, since cultural appropriation isn't near i individual being a bad person, information technology's too non well-nigh one private person giving you a laissez passer to do it.

Let's be articulate: Talking to marginalized people almost their experiences with oppression is a good way to go perspective on problems they're dealing with.

That's not to say it's a free-for-all for asking strangers questions and demanding answers. Nobody's obligated to educate you, just it's great if you lot take a friend who's willing to to talk to you when you arroyo them in a respectful way.

But it yet doesn't mean their word stands for their entire culture.

No community is a monolith, and you could observe a Black person who would say that appropriating our hair isn't non a trouble. They could honestly feel that mode, or they could be feeling the pressure to hold with the dominant culture.

I wish I could requite you the magical formula for what makes something offensive: Add together the number of studies published on information technology + your number of Black friends, divide past the number of centuries this debate has raged on, sprinkle your intentions on height, and there y'all have it! Anything over 6 is wildly offensive.

It's simply non that easy. If ane Black person says it's okay, yous have one person'due south opinion, and that's a start. But if you really want your answer, you also have to listen to other perspectives, learn about existence an ally Black folks, and admit your own privilege.

Once you lot commit to that process, you'll understand a lot more near anti-Black racism – and you'll know what's at stake for Black folks if you appropriate our hairstyles.

7. "I Don't Back up Racism, So Why Is Information technology a Problem If I Clothing a Traditionally Black Hairstyle?"

This is often accompanied by "Don't you have more important things to worry about?"

Okay, I can already hear people trying to telephone call bullshit on my last point – it'due south "just hair," then what'due south really at stake?

Well, permit'due south review the impact of some of the examples I've mentioned and so far. When a white woman wears a traditionally Black hairstyle, she:

Ignores the inequality of systematic racism, letting information technology remain invisible
Distracts from the existent issue of racism by leaving it upwardly to people of colour to point out the problem – so it's about our "oversensitivity," rather than institutional oppression
Adds to the Eurocentric standard of beauty that says that Blackness women's features are acceptable simply on white women
Claims turn a profit, credit, and/or praise instead of the people of the culture she borrowed from
Trivializes the struggles of the people who place with that hairstyle
Erases cultural differences that should exist celebrated
Perpetuates the system of white supremacy by reinforcing fake ideas of Black women's inferiority

That'due south no small impact from one individual.

And when you retrieve well-nigh lots of people assertive cultural appropriation is okay, you can understand how this adds up to equal major problems.

Yeah, we do have things more important than hair to worry about. I've touched on several of the important issues for Black women already – employment discrimination, lack of visibility in the media, police brutality – not to mention things similar healthcare, reproductive justice, and intimate partner violence.

So if yous're wondering why I'd take whatsoever time abroad from these pressing issues to worry near hair, the answer is that you've just stumbled upon one of the realities of Blackness women's everyday beingness in the United states.

Nosotros're suffering and invisible. There are feminists who fight for women but won't even acknowledge that our issues are worth fighting for. There are Blackness people speaking out against police brutality who don't speak the names of Black women killed by police.

We're told that nosotros're non cute, particularly not when we look most similar ourselves. Ofttimes, the same people who appropriate elements of our culture are completely absent when we need support.

And then we observe a treasure that helps us challenge those abusive narratives, helps united states recognize our value and be proud of our heritage, even afterward a lifetime of degradation. Even after existence violently disconnected from our ancestors and having our history erased, sometimes directly through suppression of our natural appearance.

And that treasure is our own hair, which becomes more merely hair – we grow to understand that information technology's one of the precious tools nosotros can wield to help us assert our worth and encompass our roots.

Fifty-fifty if y'all don't contribute to these struggles, the fact is that Black women wrestle these weather condition every twenty-four hour period. If you agree that nosotros deserve better, then respect us plenty to let us determine for ourselves what we need.

Your everyday actions don't exist in a vacuum separate from anti-Black racism, so if you don't acknowledge the problem, then you lot're part of information technology.

***

I promise this data clears up whatever defoliation you had – not just most what Kylie Jenner'due south done wrong, but about the bigger picture show of why appropriation of traditionally Black hairstyles is harmful.

You'll have more questions almost how all of this applies to particular situations. But now you've got the key: applying context.

If you're a white person cleaning your firm and you toss your hair into braids to keep it out of your face, of grade nobody's going to arrest you lot for appropriating cornrows.

But if yous happen to catch a glimpse of yourself looking quirky in the mirror and make up one's mind you'll tell the world you invented braids to gain profit, try re-reading this article before calling your agent.

And if yous're thinking that technically the Norse, or technically the Vikings, or technically some pale-skinned ruler in 2000 BCE had dreadlocks kickoff – again, consider the context. Who, in this guild, gets the brunt of negative stereotypes near dreadlocks?

With what you know nearly why Blackness women's hair matters, you can utilise context to other situations of possible cribbing to figure out if what's respectful and what's oppressive.

In that location are no easy answers, but with some thoughtfulness and intendance, y'all can help improve the abhorrent ways our society treats Black women – instead of beingness function of the problem of making our lives more of a struggle but then you lot can accept your fun.

Maisha Z. Johnson is the Digital Content Associate and Staff Writer of Everyday Feminism. You lot can find her writing at the intersections and shamelessly indulging in her obsession with pop culture around the web. Maisha's past work includes Customs United Against Violence (CUAV), the nation's oldest LGBTQ anti-violence system, and Fired Upward!, a program of California Coalition for Women Prisoners. Through her own project, Inkblot Arts,Maisha taps into the creative arts and digital media to amplify the voices of those often silenced. Like her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @mzjwords.