Lizzo Struggled to Accept Her Natural Hair as a Part of Her Self-Love Journey — Interview
“I’ve watched how social media has become a place that can be really harmful to people, especially to young people, and so it was important to me to be a part of something positive on social media,” she says. “And to partner with Dove was incredible because we’re making small steps and making sure that social media can be a place that can boost your self-esteem; It can be a safe space.”
Besides its pledge, the brand creates guided workshops developed with experts to help build positive self-esteem in children. On August 5, it launched My Hair, My Crown, its latest tool meant to specifically inspire confidence in children with natural hair (it’s is available for download right from the brand’s site). The 90-minute workshop features detailed activities targeted at children ages 11 to 14, which also help adults navigate beauty standards for natural hair. Lizzo even got to virtually sit in on the first of these guided workshops at the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem the same day to offer a few inspirational words.
Though she hasn’t completed the My Hair, My Crown guide with any of the young people in her own life yet, she thinks it’s perfect for guiding adults who have never tried to have conversations about natural hair with children. “I know how to have those conversations and I have that language, but a lot of people don’t,” she says. “So it’s really nice that this My Hair, My Crown workshop is accessible to people because it helps boost confidence in young people, especially if you don’t know how to talk to someone about that. It can be a really awkward conversation sometimes.”
Learning to love your natural hair is one thing, but learning how to take care of it is another. Once Lizzo embraced her natural hair, the next step was to listen to it to give it what it needs, which she says feels almost intuitive. Her main priorities are keeping her hair clean, hydrating it, and most importantly, giving it breaks. Although she loves wigs and braided styles, she also likes to just let her hair breathe.
“I used to just kind of lock my hair away, and I realized that was [like] locking her up in a prison. You can’t thrive when you’re locked up like that,” she says. “So now I’ll be like, let me take this style out and let me take this wig off and let her breathe. Let her expand.” She does that in many ways, including pigtails and buns hairstyles, which are her favorite to do simply because they are cute.