American actress Jada Pinkett Smith has opened up about the hairstyle struggles she faced in the Hollywood scene.
Taking to her Instagram account, the mother of two shared with her 11 million followers the hair regrets she had during her heydays.
She says she was cornered to do hairstyles she was not comfortable with to fit in with the European beauty standards of straight, silky hair.
“I've had some definite hair regrets for sure. Being a black woman and dealing with hair in Hollywood, especially in the era I came up in. Having your hair look as European as possible was always the thing. That was really challenging because I liked my hair out wild and curly,” said Smith.
She said because she didn’t want to be mean, she would agree to do the hair changes she was uncomfortable with until she couldn’t do it any more.
“Nobody wanted that, so I always had to do my hair in ways that didn’t feel natural to me because I’m trying to play the game. So if I’m doing the cover, everybody would be like ‘we want your hair straight and flowy’ and I would be like ‘all right, cool, but that’s not what my hair likes to do’.”
It continued until she finally dared to say no and lived happily ever after.
She kept her hair short for many years until July last year when her daughter Willow Smith cut her locks and went bald, and she did the same.
“I had to learn to get the courage to say ‘Nah, I’m not doing that.’ Which is why I feel the freedom I have today. I don’t give two cr*ps how people feel about this bald head of mine because guess what, I love it,” she said.
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