The beehive might be the most spoilt fan club of all right now. Not only is Beyoncé giving us a ground-breaking, history-making world tour right now, she has also just announced (or at least strongly alluded to) a brand new venture – hair care.
The three-part carousel post on her latest Instagram main feed sent the media into a frenzy, and it seemed like everyone had something to say.
In a sea of excitement that saw women from across the globe filling up their non-existent, virtual shopping baskets, there were also comment pages flooded with uncalled for criticism. Criticism that I believe to be steeped in misogynoir (misogyny directed towards Black women), internalised texturism, anti-blackness and quite frankly loaded with racist undertones.
These mostly revolve around the fact that Beyoncé is about to venture into a “money grabbing scheme”. But most shocking of all, is the fact that people couldn't quite get their heads around her knowing anything about hair, since many claim she is best known for wearing wigs.
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Not only is this an ignorant assumption, it is also irrelevant to her becoming a beauty brand founder. Worse still, comments like this are criticism black women are far too familiar with. It just seems that everyone always has something to say about Black women's hair…
I say this because we don't often question white women's expertise when they create their own brands in the same manner we do Black women. Selena Gomez wasn't necessarily known for her makeup looks (more so her glowing skin), yet we came in droves to purchase Rare Beauty (and continue to do so).
Victoria Beckham was a pop star before starting her luxury clothing brand. Yet people didn't question her credentials in the same way that they've rushed to question Beyonce's.
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Jennifer Aniston has had the best hairstylists working with her hair for her entire career and she has had it dyed professionally since we met her in Friends. Yet again, the comments did not question her use of extensions, or who may have worked on her highlights, when she announced the heavily anticipated LolaVie.
Now it's important to note that these women above, and many others like them, have done a really good job at creating brands with their celebrity that aligned with their own personal branding. I do not want to take that away from them.
But, why aren't we keeping the same energy across the board?
This leads me to the conclusion that the commentary online is much more sinister than it appears on the surface. In fact, many comments heavily implied that Beyoncé probably had no hair at all and therefore she was not fit to lead a hair care brand.
That alone, tells me everything I needed to know.
Beyoncé is no stranger to a side hustle. The 29 times Grammy Award-winning artist and mother of three has made a multi-million dollar fortune that spans beyond music.
Be it perfumes (raise your hand if you had Pulse EDP on your Christmas list), athleisure with Ivy Park, and even prêt-à-porter fashion clothing (R.I.P to House of Deréon), among others.
But, most notably, it is as an entrepreneur. When I think of Beyoncé, I think global superstar, icon, and good AF hairography – a term coined by American television series Glee, to describe choreography that involves a lot of hair flipping and whipping.
“Listen, I like to go to bed nice and greasy, you could fry an egg on my face. I like to moisturise so much I look like a dolphin.”
I wouldn’t reduce her sole talent to her hair of course – that would just be preposterous. But growing up Black, it was refreshing to see a Black woman sport so many different hairstyles. And that she did very well.
Beyoncé made Black girls everywhere feel proud of their hair. She reminded us that having curly or Afro hair can be somewhat of a privilege, because it allowed us to switch and change as we pleased, and that's a big flex.
She also reminded us that Black girls' hair is versatile and eclectic, and it comes in different shapes, colours and volumes. Beyoncé also made a great case for Black girls in blonde hair (even if the society tries to convince us otherwise).
But when they give you the blonde bobs… phew!
The noughties were a revolutionary time for Black culture, Black fashion and Black beauty. Beyoncé was a big contributor to that, especially in the way that she made wigs look seamless and pristine, and often used them to enhance her own natural hair.
Her mother, Ms. Tina Knowles, is a woman with many strings to her bow, too (the apple clearly doesn't fall far from the tree). She was a licensed cosmetologist and managed her hair salon when she wasn't busy designing clothes and costumes for Destiny's Child.
She really understood hair, especially curly and Afro hair. It's unsurprising that Beyoncé would inherit that interest.
I still remember seeing video compilations of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams on MTV All Access Week, showcasing exclusive BTS footage of them on tour. There we would see, never seen before footage of the girls getting their hair braided, pressed and styled.
If you're a noughties' kid who watched MTV or MTV Base, you would know that Beyoncé always had a whole load of hair to play with. I don't know about you, but for that reason alone, I was pretty much sold.
The name, the launch, the inspo.
Granted you don't need to have hair to own a hair care line but it can help to sell the product if you're living proof that it works.
It’s no secret that many Black women often choose protective hairstyles over using their natural hair. Environmental factors make hair maintenance harder – not to mention western societal beauty standards demand that we keep our naturally grown hair “small and controlled”.
Wigs are great protective style alternative because of how versatile they are and, more often than not, it makes natural hair stronger.
But the fact that Beyoncé wears her hair styled under wigs (allegedly) is neither here, nor there. It's a personal choice.
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Beyoncé launching a hair care brand is the most on brand thing I can think of. The queen of hair whipping clearly has something to show for it.
Seeing as hair is more nuanced to Black women, I can only imagine the care, love and expertise that has gone, or is going, behind this brand and I’m excited to see what she comes up with.
That's why I was so disappointed that there were many “oh another celebrity beauty brand” in a sea of “what does she know about hair, she just wears wigs”, which to me had heavy, racially derogative undertones.
Calling Black women bald headed just because they wear wigs is extremely derogatary and this type of discrimination has no place in society. Assuming that Beyoncé has no hair knowledge based on the fact that she chooses to wear wigs a lot is also misguided.
After all, hair is hair is hair, and our Queen Bee so happens to have a lot of it, so why shouldn't we be allowed access to her hair secrets? Asking for a friend…
For more from Glamour UK Beauty Writer Shei Mamona, follow her on Instagram @sheimamona
