Mainstream media often relies on black culture for fashion and beauty inspiration. Hairstyles that have been a part of Africa and black America for hundreds of years become "new trends" each season.
So if you've ever found yourself tweeting anything like "OMG! Bo Derek braids are BACK!" this quick, enlightening guide on the black hairstyles white media got all the way wrong is for you.
Say hello to cornrows!
Yep, cornrows. Not "boxer braids" — a fun new hairdo Kim K. "made popular."
You're probably confused, like, "But two years ago they said these were cornrows."
So let me break it down: Whether the hair is braided in TWO braids or a THOUSAND braids, the style is still called cornrows.
Charity, a natural hairstylist at Bohemian Soul salon in Brooklyn, confirmed with BuzzFeed that the art of cornrowing is simply braiding (or sometimes twisting) the hair down in a pattern, regardless of the number of braids. The stylist begins with a part, to serve as the guide for each braid, Charity said. Then you grab three sections of hair at the start of the part and simply braid down the row, intertwining additional hair as you work your way down. It's that technique that qualifies them as cornrows, not the number of braids or where they are positioned.
See? There are a million different ways to style them.
As for when they started and who the "forerunner" is, just know it was long before Bo Derek, and neither Madeline Brewer nor any other white celeb made them a thing.
Now, we really need to talk about Bantu knots, guys.
To reference Björk, or any other non-black figure, in the same sentence as Bantu knots, and then miss when they were first worn by centuries? That's just wrong, y'all.
Just as wrong as calling these laid baby hairs "wild" and "slicked-down tendrils."
They can't be a "new trend," because black and Latina women have literally been styling their baby hairs forever.
To put it simply, we've been laying our baby hairs since we were babies.
Just because mainstream media is only recently aware of something doesn't necessarily mean it's new. It probably just means white people are late.
Which is also the case regarding these edgy "secret undercut tattoos."
They're just a variation on the designs that people of color have been sporting for hundreds of years. Here's Yeezy at the Grammy Awards 11 years ago.
And finally, the Afro. This is NOT an Afro, and you (YES, YOU) cannot "have" one "even if you have straight hair."
THIS is an Afro. See the difference?
"The problem is not borrowing," Tharps said. "What white people are not doing is giving credit. They're stripping black culture from its origin, and that's not OK."
Basically, before you call something "new" or a "trend," check to see whether it's actually new and whether it has any cultural significance you might be unaware of.
