| Solange wearing a fro at NYC Fashion Week -- Source |
Knowles told Lurve Magazine that the relationship ended after they couldn't agree about messaging; Solange appeared alongside R&B singer and model Cassidy and supermodel Selita Eubanks. Carole's Daughter was criticized for featuring only light-skinned models in its advertising -- and Solange was the only model with kinky hair.
"I was constantly fighting for the right message to be heard. The message that the way we wear our hair is a personal choice, there’s no right or wrong way.”
Very interesting, especially considering all the criticism that she has faced in recent months from a vocal minority in the natural community. Knowles, who is quite the fashionista, is frequently criticized for her natural hairstyles.
What Folks Really Want To Say About Solange's Hair
In short, Solange can't win -- not even on her own Instagram account, where folks criticized her hair, said it was "dry and unkempt," unlike other type 4 hair, said she needed a twist out, needed a comb, and even accused her of not getting a big chop a while back. Solange fired back to her critics on Twitter, saying she wasn't the "natural hair representative."
Even last week, at NY Fashion Week, folks talked about Solanged hair for being "dry." In other pictures, her hair appeared not to be dry, but who cares?
Which is all really interesting. Who is ANYONE to tell someone how to wear THEIR hair? And why are we all up in Solange's head, anyway? I'm going to say this: We are SOOOO critical of each other's hair. In one mouth, we'll suggest products, then give you the side eye when you wear non-curly styles like fros, as if the only "acceptable" way to wear our hair is with curls or curl manipulation.
It's real; I've experienced it myself when I wear styles such as shrunken fros or twist outs, as compared to wearing curls -- as if curls are somehow always better in naturals' eyes. This is why so many of us are obsessed with curls, and have a get a curl at any price mentality, even if our hair won't curl.
The Right and Wrong Natural Hair
Clearly, in many naturals' minds, there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to wear our hair. Nice, neat contained styles -- like the short, cropped TWA Solange once had? That's OK. But a fro with nary a curl, with a tighter curl patten, without much sheen (not to mention that certain hair types lack natural sheen")?
Nah, boo boo! Totally unacceptable, according to the natural hair police. But don't we want our relaxed sisters to not criticize our hair choices, but we are perfectly OK with doing the very same thing to other naturals? I'm so not into hair typing, but we'll "ooh" and "aah" over pics of type 3 curls all day long, but a Type 4?
Chile, BYE! Barely a comment.
Sounds a bit hypocritical, much?
All of this doesn't faze Knowles.
She told Lurve: “I really, truly was not even aware that there was a natural hair system in place to measure the texture of your hair. At that point I thought to myself, ‘This is really crazy. That these people know more about my hair than the human that even carries it!’ I went to my Twitter and sort of impulsively expressed that. I don’t regret it one bit, but sometimes trying to put how you feel in an one-hundred forty character structure is not really successful. [...] I’m actually really trying to navigate my feelings on the entire hair issue and it’s tough doing that publicly.”
Can we please call a hair moratorium? Stop telling folks how to wear THEIR hair, that it's dry or that you don't like THEIR hair style. Mind your own hair business! Pay attention to your own hair.
What do you think about how naturals criticize other naturals? Is it too much?
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