Kim Kardashian's "Bobby Pin Hairstyle" Is Coming Under Fire for Cultural Appropriation
By Devon Abelman. Photos: Courtesy of Instagram, Getty Images.
The Kardashian-Jenner crew is no stranger to trying out hairstyles — whether they're culturally sensitive or not. (Kylie Jenner's cornrows and Khloe Kardashian's bantu knots might ring some nostalgic alarm bells.) And now, Kim Kardashian's latest hairstyle is turning heads for all the wrong reasons.
Lately, Kardashian has been radiating major Cher vibes with flowing waist-length hair. Her stylist Chris Appleton, however, recently swept it up in a bun. All clear so far, right? But instead of creating a standard chignon, he parted Kardashian's hair down the middle and surrounded both sides with evenly spaced bobby pins. After Appleton posted a picture of Kim Kardashian's hairstyle on Instagram, some commenters started calling it a "bobby pin headband" — a designation that upset many other observers who noted that this is definitely resembles a doobie wrap protective hairstyle.
Doobie wraps originated with and were popularized by Caribbean women, according to Khalea Underwood who wrote about Kim K.'s hairstyle for Refinery29. Typically, this technique involves securing the hair in place to keep straight styles from getting crimped. Back in 2013, Rihanna wore a similar style to the American Music Awards. The response for RiRi? People were surprised. Not because she was culturally appropriating anything (a la Kim), but because she hit the red carpet in a look often reserved for bedtime or chore time around the house.
With this in mind, Kim Kardashian's "bobby pin hairstyle" is not a trend she's spontaneously come up with, just like Kylie certainly didn't invent wigs. And to be fair, the look isn't even a spot-on doobie wrap because not all of her hair was secured around her head. (There was still a bun involved.) But the issue here isn't the accuracy: it's the fact that she's once again being credited (whether intentionally or inadvertently) with originating a style that was created by and for women who've been doing it for a long, long time.
This story originally appeared on Allure.
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