Source: Hanna Lassen/WireImage / Getty
We’ve seen Kelly Rowland rock her hair in so many styles: sleek and straight, big and curly, a colored TWA, and now she’s encouraging women to embrace what’s on their head. Her new music video, “Crown,” shows young women of all backgrounds and looks displaying their beautiful strands.
With lyrics like, “It don’t matter how I wear it / It’s beautiful in every color / Long, short, straight or curly / I love what I see in the mirror,” it’s sure to be an anthem that will have you feeling confident no matter what your mane looks like. Watch below:
And we say, “Yaaaaas queen!” In this partnership with Dove, this anthem falls right in line with the likes of India.Arie‘s “I Am Not My Hair” in terms of the message of accepting your hair for what it is (whether you chose for it to look that way, or not), and not letting others define you by it. Your hair is your crown, and that is where your strength and power come from, especially as a black woman.
According to Marie Claire, the words in the song, “my hair, my crown” came from the actress’ mother. “My mom used to tell me my hair was my crown and glory,” she said. “What we’re trying to convey to this next generation of girls is confidence to knock down beauty stereotypes, which is so important. I did this campaign because young girls need to know their hair is truly their crown. Life would be boring if everybody’s crowns look the same. It’s about doing hair your own way—with texture, color, cuts—no matter what it is, you have the freedom to express your creative self.”
Basically, do you, but have the boldness to back it up. Forget what the culture or society tells you to look like, and do what makes you happy. Your crown is your crown and no one can take that away from you. In the black community with the division of natural vs. weave/wigs vs. straight vs. braids, there are so many connotations that come with each, but in reality, none is greater than the other. If you wear extensions, that doesn’t mean you hate your natural hair. If you sport your curls, that doesn’t mean it’s the healthiest, and the list goes on. In this video, the mother of one is breaking all the stereotypes about hair, and telling us why we shouldn’t care.
For black women, the relationship we have with our locks begin in childhood, even one of Rowland’s first hair memories wasn’t a positive one: “My earliest memory of hair was actually with my mother. She permed it at 5,” she said, according to PEOPLE. “I remember all my hair fell out when they were rinsing it out and my mom let my cousin, who was in cosmetology school, do it. I remember looking at my hair in the sink and thinking ‘Oh my gosh, why did she want to straighten it?’ My mom didn’t know, but the seeds [of insecurity] started to be planted there.”
Our crowns should reflect us, so it’s time to change the perception we have of what grows out of our heads, and disassociate ourselves with the negative thoughts and feelings we have towards our hair. When we stop caring about the opinions of others, then they will get the hint. They’ll stop trying to “fix” us, and cease kicking our young girls out of school for reasons their counterparts don’t get escorted out. “We have to continue to talk about it because if we stop talking about it people will think it’s okay,” said the 37-year-old. “It is our responsibility to instill confidence in young girls so that they don’t succumb to beauty standards. We are an evolving world and we have to celebrate every texture, and every color, and all of the uniqueness out there.”
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