GABRIELLE UNION HITS BACK CRITICS AND DEFENDS DAUGHTER’S HAIR
The texture-shaming conversations people are having about Gabrielle Union's daughter, Kaavia, who hasn't even seen her second birthday yet, has come as a shock.
In an interview with People magazine, Gabrielle talked about how she and Dwyane Wade work to affirm their kids' beauty as Black children, especially 20-month-old daughter Kaavia and 13-year-old step-daughter Zaya. "It is always pride and live your best life and live your best Black life. And let your curls do what they do," she said.
In the social media-driven world we live, it is no shock to hear about yet another shameful criticism that has been thrown over and over again, especially to the young born into the celebrity life style. And, sadly, the very anti-Black sentiments Union is attempting to shield her children from are already being thrown at her youngest.
"I'll see comments and people are like, 'Why is her hair never done?' And I'm like, 'She is a year and a half'. I don’t want to give her a complex about what is an acceptable style."
A conversation spread across Twitter and Instagram earlier in July about biracial child fetishisation, and how that complex showed up in the contrast between how North West and her curls were embraced by the masses, while a mean-spirited petition was launched on Change.Org to encourage Beyoncé to comb Blue Ivy’s hair.
Both girls' hair was simply out and free, but because of young North West's looser curl pattern and finer texture, her look, to use Union's words, was deemed "an acceptable style."
It's that same conditioning that has led to questions and criticism as to why Kaavia's hair isn't "done".
Union replied to the remarks that popped up in her comments and said she lets her daughters decide what they want to do with their hair, not society.
"Some days Kav will hand you her brush and she'll want a little afro puff. And some days she just wants to wake up and go. And Zaya went from pink hair to blonde. If you want to switch it up every day, great. What you do with your hair is your own personal choice. For me, the focus is on healthy hair, not on what you do with it."
With the revival of her hair-care line, Flawless, coming out in August, her girls will obviously have the tools to take care of their hair and style it as of their choosing, and for Union, that means embracing the Blackness that shapes who they are internally and externally on their own will.
"Your hair is a part of you and it's an extension of you, but it has to start with self-love and pride in your Blackness and Afrocentric features, whether that be your hair, your nose, your lips or your body."