Kelly Rowland speaks on hair discrimination and finding her own beauty
Although New York City has made great strides in the natural hair movement via its recent anti-discrimination hair law, Kelly Rowland makes it clear that Black women and their hair still have a ways to go.
This week the award-winning singer joined the ladies of The Real to give her take on beauty standards in the entertainment industry. The 38-year-old entertainer, opened up about her own past issues with self-esteem, citing that the problem stemmed from a lack of diversity in media.
“I remember this one thing specifically, I was looking at this magazine, and it said, ‘What Beauty Looks Like,’ and it was all women that didn’t look like me, with blonde hair, and I was thinking, if that’s what beauty looks like, where do I fit in?
Sporting a lush head of loose waves, the Destiny’s Child singer, who currently plays Gladys Knight in the Soul Train-inspired BET series American Soul, went on to acknowledge the progress in media’s portrayal of women, while still calling for more attention to women of color:
“And it’s just so interesting because you put all these visuals out here, and media’s responsible for that, these different companies are responsible for that, so you have to be really careful because I think as a kid, you want to be able to see yourself through so many different women, that’s why this show is so important and social media is so important. We have to remember that it’s more than just us.”
This isn’t Rowland’s first time advocating for more representation for Black women. While promoting her former show, “Chasing Destiny,” Kelly made it clear that she wanted to create a music group that features more brown girls.
“One of the things I looked for [in the new girl group] first was chocolate girls because I feel it’s so necessary for my niece, my unborn kid, she has to see more chocolate women. No disrespect for lighter women, but we have to see all colors,” Rowland said.
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