It's New York Fashion Week 2015. Givenchy sends models down the catwalk in a style described by the designer, Ricardo Tisci, as "Victorian-chola girl," featuring wet-look baby hairs styled into full ringlets on the models' foreheads. Around the same time, pop singer Katy Perry posted a photo to Instagram of her in a similar style, with the edges of her hair manipulated with wet-look gel. British Rapper FKA Twigs also made a splash when she went on the cover of i-D magazine with the word 'love' spelled across her forehead in baby hairs; she has since gone on to say that she's not as comfortable with the look becoming a high-fashion trend. Some hailed the look as a hot trend for 2015, dubbing it futuristic, while others were more rightfully not so convinced as to the originality, or sentiment of this new trend, including 'The Root' blogger Yesha Callahan who said, "Maybe we should just hand out #latepasses to this fashion rag" in her article concerning the trend.
Katy Perry and her wet look 'baby hairs' at the Givenchy Show (Getty Images)
While most fashion bloggers and designers that have addressed the revival of wet-look baby hair in high fashion as just that -- a revival -- many have not been as upfront about the appropriative aspect of wet-look baby hair, the hijacking of 'urban' styles for use in high-fashion, or popular discussions and beliefs about baby hairs in general.
The fact is predominantly featured and celebrated baby hairs, particularly gelled-down baby hairs, have been a part of black and Latino/a hair fashion since at least the 70s, if not earlier, inspired by celebrities like the Jackson 5's Latoya or by Chilli of TLC. Besides that, baby hairs have been an unavoidable part of life for many People of Color and some Eastern/Southern European ethnicities for as long as hair styling has been a thing.
The tufty hairs haven't always been called cute 'doll-like' or angelic as they were after the Givenchy show, however. Baby hairs are often seen by people without them, or with less of them, as a sign of messy, broken, and/or unprofessional hair. This is another instance of a time when the natural hair of People of Color has been dubbed unprofessional. Additionally, wet-look gelled-down baby hairs in the past have been called 'ghetto,' sweaty, and even an indicator of promiscuity (if you're a woman wearing the look).
Some women and men have even been compelled to get hairline electrolysis to make their hairlines smoother. Or, as in the case of Rita Hayworth, to look less 'ethnic.' Rita Hayworth, born Margarita Carmen Casino, was told by Colombia pictures that they would be able to find her bigger roles if she made herself less 'exotic looking.' She got very painful hairline electrolysis, bleached her skin, and dyed her hair auburn. She went on the be one of the top stars of the 40s, but similar things still happen constantly today.
One of the biggest issues with 'baby hair' as a trend is that while it is called glamorous now, it was belittled when in was popularized by the black community. One prominent example can be found on Yahoo Answers. An unnamed questioner asked "How to get baby hairs" because she thinks "they're sooo cute." She accompanies the post with a photo of Chilli from TLC (pictured below) followed by the caption "I want them to look like this, but a lot less ugly." This totally disregards Chilli's naturally occurring baby hairs, and that without her, baby hairs may have never been considered a cute hair trend at all.
Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas of TLC, often hailed as the 90s queen of baby hairs (Madamenir.com)
If anything, the journey of the baby hair should be seen as a reminder to all that history, beauty, and fashion are just as much in need of intersectional thinking as anything else, and that human ideas are rarely if ever totally original. We build off of each other, and that's great, but it's not great to disrespect a fashion when one group wears it but laud it when another appropriates it.
And most of all, let yourself love your hairline, defined or faded, baby hairs or none.
