Since Beyoncé launched CÉCRED, her haircare line, there’s been a lot of excitement and praise but also some side-eying and criticism. Most women, most people, have a deep relationship with their hair – it’s mood and identity, it’s expression and it’s presentation. For Black women in particular though, their hair can be, sometimes, a complicated experience. Because of prejudice, of course, and misinformation and availability of product.
I was just thinking about this this weekend because I was on a work trip and stayed at a hotel. I don’t travel with my own shampoo and conditioner – I’m too lazy. And this is a privilege because, for the most part, I can just use what’s in the room, provided by the hotel. It’s fine for a day or two, whatever. The shampoo and conditioner at the hotel where I was staying though was more terrible than usual. The minute I rinsed out the shampoo I knew it was a problem, because my hair was so dry, it felt like the shampoo had stripped away every layer of protection. And the conditioner was a joke, there was no moisture to it whatsoever, it felt like straw – and to be clear, I don’t have damaged hair, my hair is healthy, it felt like straw because of those janky products. But even with how sh-tty those products were, I have the kind of hair where one use of low-quality product is not a disaster. Not everyone can say that, though. Black people can’t just use any f-cking bottle of cheap ass shampoo in their hotel room when they need a wash. My point is, these are the realities for others that non-Black people, like myself, don’t often consider.
So, to go back to Beyoncé , through the course of her life and her career, she would know something about Black hair and access and the limitations on the market. Also, I mean, her hair is its own legend. And she grew up in her mother’s hair salon – she has the credentials. But the doubters still came for her.
And one of the accusations is that she’s not qualified to sell haircare products because she wears wigs from time to time.
Beyoncé typically does not engage with trolls and all the bullsh-t about her on the streets. This is why her latest Instagram post is atypical. Because there’s actually a long (by her standards) caption and she’s speaking in the video. AND AND AND…
She’s showing us her own hair, up close and personal. Not just her hair but her scalp. And it should shut down once and for all the bitching and complaining about her hair and what she uses and whether or not she knows what she’s talking about with CÉCRED. And the ignorance of those who think that people who wear wigs can’t have long hair when, in fact, wearing wigs can actually protect natural hair.
People wear wigs for a variety of different reasons and what they have underneath those wigs are just as varied. I wore a wig for Lunar New Year recently because I wanted to go blonde and bob and, like Beyoncé, protect my own hair. Some people wear wigs because it can be quicker and they need to save on time. Others wear them because they’ve been through treatment. Wearing a wig doesn’t necessarily mean any one thing. And Black women wearing wigs doesn’t mean their natural hair is inferior, or whatever the f-ck people assume about Black hair.
As for why Beyoncé initially was showing other people using her products and not herself – I mean that’s just a business strategy, taking it to the consumer and how they were engaging with the line. If she’d shown herself off the top, you know how it works – the haters would have been like blah, blah, blah, of course her hair looks amazing, she’s Beyoncé and has a whole team behind her, but what about the regular people. So she featured the regular people and this is the foolery that came up instead.
Which is why our Queen had to take time out of her day to show us what her hair looks like… when she could have been spending that time giving us some visuals, LOL. This is indeed A VISUAL though.
