Kim Kardashian West under fire over daughter North’s ‘Ariana Grande’ hair do
It’s lucky that mum-of-three Kim Kardashian West has a tough internal filter when it comes to criticism because the latest chatter about her five-year-old daughter’s hair seems pretty unfair.
Straight hair, don’t care
Kim and her bestie, ‘FoodGod’ Jonathan Cheban took North West and her best friend Ryan to the famous Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York over the weekend. It was part of North’s New York birthday celebrations – which saw her siblings, two-year-old Saint and five-month-old Chicago, remain at home (people complained about that too).
Obviously feeling her daddy Kanye West’s influence, when it comes to choice of outfit, North wore a pink Adidas tracksuit, white Yeezy runners and a cute candy necklace. North’s straightened hair was braided down the centre and pulled into an Ariana Grande-style high ponytail, and the birthday girl appeared to be LOVING IT! She loved it so much, that she kept it straight for the entire weekend, in fact.
Some social media users were not in love, citing hair damage and even a possible denial of North’s heritage as a cause for concern.
“I really hate how the Kardashians keep straightening that poor baby’s hair tho. North West gonna have heat damage before she’s 10 – before I even knew what a straightener was,” one Twitter user wrote.
“Omg North West’s hair. I hope they don’t keep straightening it, but she looks just like Kim with that ponytail,” someone else posted.
“North looks so big and beautiful, but they shouldn’t have straightened her hair yet,” another Twitter user said.
People going on about how “fucking gorgeous” North West is now that her hair has been straightened. pic.twitter.com/jOOAnW7Mxz
— Rosella Chibambo (@Chibambo) June 15, 2018
Curly hair 101
North’s hair is usually very curly, and while Kim (who is herself a straight-y when it comes to hair texture) used to always pull it tightly back when her daughter was little, she got some advice on how to better style it and helped North to embrace her natural look.
Read more about the Kardashians:
- Khloe Kardashian has shared some super adorable pictures of True’s nursery
- You’ll wish YOU were invited to the cute Kardashian kids’ unicorn party
- Kim Kardashian West shares adorable new photo of baby Chicago
On a 2016 episode of the family’s reality show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim admitted she felt upset that she didn’t know how to look after her preschooler’s hair, and hired a hairstylist to teach her how to fancy up and care for North’s locks.
“North is so proud of her curly hair, and she’s very opinionated on how she wants to wear [it],” Kim said. “As a mum, you don’t wanna have to tell her, ‘I don’t know how to do your hair.’ It’s such a prideful thing to make her look pretty and make her look confident; it’s important to me.”
Kim has taken such good care of North’s curls over the years. The comments about North’s hair being straightened is tired. First of all, mind your own children ??
— KIM WEST SOURCE (@kimwestsource_) June 15, 2018
“We get to talk about it”
Kim (who is of Armenian descent) has frequently spoken about better understanding her children’s African American heritage – and honouring them.
“Kanye always has his family around and people who look like my daughter—that’s important to me,” Kim told Interview Magazine last year. “She’s obsessed with her curly hair, and if she finds someone who has the same hair, she runs to them and is like, ‘You have curly hair like me?’ And we get to talk about it. We also talk about it with my niece Penelope, because she and North look really different, but they’re best friends, and they’re together all the time.”
That said, Kim’s been at the centre of several controversies about cultural appropriation, last week wearing her hair braided in a way many consider to be insensitive – and before that attributing her cornrow braids to actor Bo Derek (rather than noting their true roots are in African American culture.)
