Recently people have been on one after seeing Justin Biebers new hairstyle – dreads. While I’m not one of those people who have a strong opinion on this topic, I’ve studied topics similar to this for my Media Studies and Communication and Culture coursework and feel that I should take advantage of my blogging platform by hopefully clearing up any misunderstanding from my personal level of understanding.

Cultural appreciation – Personally I would define this as simply admiring parts of someone else culture.

Cultural appropriation – I personally define this as taking something from someone else culture and exploiting it by using it as a form of entertainment or wearing it because it’s ‘cool’ and ‘in fashion’ (for example wearing an indian fancy dress costume or a Bindi when you’re not Asian or Hindu). I would also define cultural appropriation as taking something from another culture and then disregarding it’s original history and the culture that it came from (for example cornrows being called boxer braids).

On social media I’ve seen many people stating that black girls don’t have a right to get mad at white people for wearing dreads or braids because black girls wear straight weaves and I want to explain how I believe that the two styles aren’t the same thing. Dreadlocks  is a hair style done to your hair which has a cultural history and is often a symbol of strength for many black people. However, straight hair is simply a hair texture and doesn’t hold any significant cultural value. There are also black people born with natural straight or loose curly hair in some parts of the world.

I’m not sure if this is a very good example but I’m going to try to put what’s happening in a way that may be easier to understand. Imagine wearing a specific hairstyle was a part of your religion/culture and you and your family members wore this hairstyle because its cultural value for years. One day people who aren’t a part of your religion or culture and that lacked knowledge into the history or cultural value of wearing this hairstyle decided that this style was ‘cool’ and so were going to wear it aswell, making it a simple fashion statement. This would probably annoy you. Not because these random people are wearing this hairstyle, but because they are wearing it simply because to them it’s just ‘cool’. They aren’t actually appreciating the cultural value behind the hairstyle even though with their little knowledge they do know that this style did come from a particular culture/religion and so has significance to someone.

To make it worse, another reason black women (and men) are angry at the fact the people such as Justin Bieber have dreadlocks is that many black women have been discriminated against in places like the workplace for wearing dreadlocks (or braids), being told that their hair which has a cultural significance is unsuitable. An example of this is when Zendaya wore dreadlocks and she was mocked because of it with people saying that she must smell like weed where as other celebs like Kylie Jenner are praised for their “fresh and chic new style” (that has been around for generations).

Now imagine that this hairstyle that you and your family have been wearing for years because of it’s cultural significance is not only worn by people who have no knowledge of it’s origin or cultural significance, but these people are also praised for their ‘new and chic hair style’ while you are mocked and laughed at when you wear it (even though you and your family have ben wearing it for years – even before it became a fashion statement).

I don’t personally know Justin or Kylie and so I don’t know if they do appreciate the cultural significance of dreadlocks (I’d hope that they do since they’re wearing them, simply out of respect for the culture dreadlocks came from) but Boxer Braids are a perfect example of this; taking something from another culture that people of that culture have been wearing for years, putting it on a white celebrity and then changing it’s name and disregarding it’s original cultural significance, then last but not least releasing it as a new, fresh and chic hairstyle.

I’m not an expert on this topic and I don’t believe that white people shouldn’t wear dreadlocks but rather that no one, no matter your race, age or religion should wear any cultural style or product out of context (e.g not wear it as a simple fashion statement with lack of knowledge of it’s origin or cultural significance). I hope that even with my general level of understanding I’ve helped some of you to understand why people are angry about cultural appropriation, Justin Bieber and Kylie Jenner having dreadlocks and why black girls wearing straight hair personally isn’t a very good comparison.