Willow Smith gets candid about her struggle of growing up with ‘kinky hair’

Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s 19 year old daughter, Willow smith recently opened about the struggle of owning and loving her natural hair on her mother’s show The Red Table Talk.

The episode also saw Jada’s mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris as one of her guests. Joining her was Jada’s best friend Mia and her daughter Madison. The episode focused on each woman’s personal experience with Colorism and how they dealt with it. Willow Smith confessed that she struggled as a kid with feeling beautiful as she often compared herself to other girls with straight or wavy hair.

The star elaborated, “One of the issues for me growing up was my hair, I would look at her [my cousin’s] hair and be like ‘I would be so much prettier if my hair wasn’t so kinky, [or if] I had long hair.”

Jada pointed out why her daughter must have felt that way growing up. She explained, “The approximation to white is what is valued around the world, it’s global.” Willow Smith however was quick to address that she happily embraces her natural hair now which she proudly flaunts on the show. 

Why willow shaved all her hair off

The episode was clearly filmed before the quarantine, as during the lock down, Willow Smith shaved all her hair off as a symbolic gesture for an art exhibit. Willow’s boyfriend and Musical collaborator Tyler Cole completely shaved her hair off. She did it as part of the conclusion of an art exhibit she was participating in at the Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. She wanted to make a bold statement. 

Both artists spent 24 hours locked in a glass room at MOCA in a performance art piece demonstrating the eight emotional stages related to anxiety: paranoia, rage, sadness, numbness, euphoria, strong interest, compassion and acceptance.

After shaving her hair again for the second time since she was 11, Willow Smith discussed the experience with her mother in another episode of Red Table Talk. “The first time you shaved your head [was] when you were 12 years old. But this time, you came into a womanhood,” Jada told her daughter. “So, kudos to you.”

Willow further explained, “I feel like I was just shedding a lot of history and emotional baggage. Six, seven, years of emotion, I just let it go.”