I’m so tired of being duped by so-called fashion and beauty magazines that claim they’re sharing new trends with us. Last week, I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline and a post by Gorgeous in Grey caught my eye. It was a clip from a UK-based magazine that featured Kim Kardashian and a few other women wearing their hair in cornrows. I didn’t think much of it until I read the headline: “Celebs Go Crazy For Boxer Braids.”
I left a “SMH” comment on the post after realizing they were trying to pass off some basic braids to the back (AKA cornrows) as a trailblazing new trend. I talked to a few friends about my frustrations regarding cultural appropriation and left it at that, but I was inspired to share my thoughts on B&B after reading this post on The Fashion Bomb Daily.
“Boxer braids. What are those?!”
I’m supportive of and thankful for cultural appreciation because I am inspired by and like to learn about people with different skin colors, hair textures and beauty practices than mine. If we want to celebrate these differences while giving credit to the origins of these beauty ideals and aesthetics, I’m all for it because it’e enlightening. I’m not trying to be the hair police. If you see a style and like, rock it! I do it all the time!
What I’m not here for is cultural exploitation and erasure. I guess the author of this story thought they protected themselves from appropriating people of color because they mentioned that boxer braids were “originally used as a way to control curly or Afro hair” and didn’t feature any Black or Brown people wearing the look.
The nail in the “eff-your-culture” coffin was the attribution to Kim Kardashian as the person who “cemented the style of the moment.” Le sigh. The struggle is real.
Here we go again with someone from the Kardashian-Jenner camp being given the moniker of a trendsetter based on beauty trends that originated in the Black community. Will this ever stop? If the Kardashians want to wear their hair in cornrows, more power to them, but let’s not pretend that this hairstyle hasn’t been historically linked back to ancient times in parts of North and West Africa.
Cornrows have been and still are a go-to hairstyle for Black people for centuries. I’ve always seen, worn and been around this hairstyle since I can remember. I look through old family photo albums and see pictures of my great-grandmother wearing her hair in cornrows and let’s not even talk about the countless Black entertainers who have worn braided styles for decades before Kim “discovered” or even cared to wear her hair in this style.
One way this poor display of “journalism” could be somewhat alleviated is by attributing and featuring accurate representations of the cultures who originate the different style and beauty trends that may be trending among non-persons of color. It would also be nice for someone from the Kardashian-Jenner crew to speak up and affirm that they aren’t the originators of many of the styles they’ve been praised for pioneering. I’m not holding my breath waiting for this to happen because I want to grow old,but a girl can dream, right?
Ciao Bellas,
