By Marika Adams

 

Now we’ve all seen Willow Smith and her hairstyles, right?

It feels like she changes it every week with almost no fight with her parents. Now with the mounting criticism by the public on her parenting skills, Jada Pinkett-Smith has responded on her facebook page.

 

 

A letter to a friend…

This subject is old but I have never answered it in its entirety. And even with this post it will remain incomplete.

The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must be challenged. This is a world where women,girls are constantly reminded that they don’t belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit and her mind are HER domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It’s also a statement that claims that even little girls have the RIGHT to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother’s deepest insecurities, hopes and desires. Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be. More to come. Another day.

J

 

Now, I will have to agree with the fact that a woman’s value is not measured by the length of her hair. It seems that the Black community has an issue with Willow because her hair is short. I say this because there is no uproar about hair color for other artists such as the OMG Girls. The issue is the length. I say power to Jada to encourage Willow to rock her hair short as she wants it defying the culture that is linked to long flowing hair.

 

I do, however, take pause when Jada Smith speaks about the control of mind, body and spirit of a young girl. I love the idea of power that she gives to Willow but I do believe that that power is learned over time. No 12 year old (Willow’s age) can completely grasp the idea of mind, body and spirit. Jada does, but Willow I’m sure doesn’t. She is still a child and like a child she switches her style like she would re-dress a doll a million times. Just for the fun of it.

 

What do you think of all the hoopla surrounding Willow’s style?