For Black women, our hair is often celebrated as our crowning glory. So, it takes an act of courage when we make mane moves and snip our locks and shave off our tresses. But sisters, we’re also not afraid to show up, show out and shine, and more of us are taking the bold step to make the big chop.
Need an incentive? Black-woman-owned T-shirt brand Mess in a Bottle has a popular tee that reads, “I’m just a bad chick with a bald head, living life.” There’s also a Bald Boss Movement with 19,000 followers on Instagram that celebrates women, as well as men and children, who are either bald by choice or due to health-related issues like alopecia and cancer treatment. The group’s motto: “Hair is like an accessory, whether you have it or not, it doesn’t determine your beauty or your worth. You do!!”
Hair, or the lack of it, was also a hot topic on a soul- and hair-baring episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook talk show Red Table Talk, when Smith and her Girl’s Trip costar Tiffany Haddish discussed their decisions to go bare ... up there.
Haddish says going bald has helped her appreciate her own beauty. “I started to fall in love with myself. Now I see all of my features, my eyes and my nose, my cheeks. God did a good job putting me together.” And her bae of the moment, Common, agreed, telling her how beautiful she looks bald. “Look at your face — you're gorgeous! I could see you, I could see all of you," he said.
For her part, Pinkett Smith has flaunted short hairstyles before, and in recent years she’s been open about her hair-loss woes. But the petite actress says turning 50 was a turning point. Encouraged by her daughter Willow Smith, who also goes from whipping her hair back and forth to rocking a baldie, the petite actress wrote on Instagram, "Willow made me do it because it was time to let go but ... my 50s are bout to be divinely lit with this shed❣."
Here are four more celebrity sisters who have embraced being bald and beautiful.
Sanaa Lathan
In Nappily Ever After, Lathan portrays an ambitious and tightly wound executive who gives herself a drastic hair makeover. We love her character’s journey to self-discovery and self-love. And luckily, the lovely Lathan looks marvelous with and without hair.
Michaela Coel
Coel’s deep brown skin and high cheekbones give us life, and her striking features are accentuated by her close-cropped cut. When the I May Destroy You actress and creator won an Emmy for writing the HBO series, she gave a powerful acceptance speech that resonated with women writers everywhere. She said, “Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn't comfortable. I dare you.”
Tamar Braxton
Tamar Braxton has a larger-than-life personality and is known for funny catch phrases like “Get your life!” and “You tried it!” But the R&B diva turned heads and made headlines when she shaved her head. “I'm over feeling captive to a wig, weave, people, people’s comments and opinions, hell … even my own feelings! We can choose to stop these things from having the power and victory over us!! And for me, that starts today. #happysttamarsday,” the reality TV star wrote on her IG page.
Danai Gurira
We will never get tired of exclaiming, “Wakanda Forever!” And immortalized by the role of Okoye, the fierce and fearless leader of the badass bald army of women warriors known as the Dora Milaje, Gurira has a lot to do with our undying love for the fictitious African kingdom.
Sisters Staff
