by
Black Girl With Long Hair
A photo of natural kids from H&M’s back-to-school catalogue has been circulating online, and all four have tightly curly/coily hair texture! When natural hair makes it to the mainstream it’s often of a looser texture, so it’s a bit of a surprise and quite refreshing to see that H&M went with kinky and coily-haired kids. And these kids are all ridiculously cute!
Ladies, what are your thoughts?
110 Responses
In the UK they’ve been using natural kids with tighter curl patterns in catalogues and things for a while now 🙂 Glad to see that the US is catching up! Not just H&M, other shops like M&S and BHS and Next also use natural haired kids a lot. Love seeing it!!
AWW! It is so ridiculously cute!
I do not really like the phrase kinky haired kids. I actually hate that phrase. however I love what h&m are doing. supporting black and beautiful kids. naturally textured hair kids. They are all sooo cute.
i predict that within a year natural hair or “afro texture hair” will be the next thing that white people appropriate. not trying to be rude but give it 7 months and it’ll be the 70s all over again.
Funny you should say that – about a month ago, while driving, I saw a white man with 2 little light-skinned boys with HUGE afros waiting to walk across the street. As I passed them, I looked to check out their hair and saw that they were actually little (like 7 & 9 years old) white boys wearing afro wigs.
Wow, I can imagine that was a sight to see. You know they gotta copy EVERYTHING we do!!! Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
That’s true. But the skin complexion issue remains the same, however…sigh. It really is nice to see this type of hair texture embraced by mainstream retailers, and I am excited to see the day when the skin complexion hierarchy is abolished and all skin complexions are understood as beautiful and desirable, particularly by big business.
I see what you are saying. It is and always has been about the dollar. I think companies are realizing more and more women of African descent are going natural. So they seem to be picking up the trend and featuring more naturals on ads and commercials. I’m happy because it gives kinky hair exposure so people will start to recognize it outside of the natural hair community.
love that.big,beautiful,natural hair.i really don’t understand parents that put strong chemicals on their kids hair.i mean why?chemicals and heat,damage not only their hair but somethimes their health let’s not talk about their self esteem.and for all these people that complain about going to school with natural hair i say that,if i were a teacher and saw a kid(white or black i don’t care) with chemically processed hair or straighted with irons and stuff i would call their parents and give them hell.putting your kid in such pain is monstrous in my eyes.
The statement about Target is true, the one here doesn’t carry kiddie perms and now that I think of it, they don’t carry perms/relaxers for adults. That’s a good thing!!
The Targets I go to (at least 3 of them) all carry relaxers. Maybe its a regional thing.
The ones here do too – I’m in Los Angeles.
I LOVE the fact natural hair children were used as models. This was an excellent idea and help younger children to see other children representing themselves rocking their natural hair. It’s saying its ok to be kinky on tv, in school, in a pool! Children need to see examples of themselves represented in all positive ways! I hope to see this in more commercials, movies, tv shows!!!!
Quite refreshing, indeed.
It’s beautiful but i’m kind of worried about the little girl at the top right. Color treating hair can involve harmful chemicals and i’m not sure that a child should be submitted to that. If that is her natural hair color, which is not impossible, then I retract my comment.
Looking at the color of her skin and eyebrows, I think that is her natural color. I actually grew up with twin girls who have the same color hair.
Actually, my little cousin who is 17 is mixed with Italian, Irish and Russian and has beautiful “Lindsay Lohan from the Parent Trap” natural dark red hair. Unfortunately she straightens it :/ It could be the little girls real hair color and I’m assuming it is.
I was reading something somewhere once, or maybe saw on Discovery [?] the redheads we see now are actually a genetic anomaly resulting from Moors invading the northern countries waaaaay back… the red hue is a rare strain from the strong negroid dark brown/black hair genes mixing with the very strong caucasoid blonde hair genes, sure sometimes you just get brown or some other blondish color, but every now, especially with the genes so pure, I’m sure they hit a sweet spot & get a hue right in the middle — the red. So, the invaders head back down [messing w/ France, Spain & Italy on the way] and leave a whole bunch of mixed babies… they grow up, and because sometimes you’re attracted to the familiar, a boy & a girl who might have similar hair colors get together, making the red gene stronger & stronger each generation… skin color is the easiest to manipulate/ I would suspect the whiter caucasoid skin gene is pretty dominant up there and over generations again it would be preserved, and the freckles that sometimes accompany are the bits of melanin trying to figure out what to do lol genetics are very cool & less complicated than we try to make them 🙂
i absolutely love this. it’s kinda interesting too because my two-year old has tight coils on his head, and at his daycare the attendants have tried a few times to comb/brush his hair into submission- which is a losing battle of course, as i could have let them know in advance before they ever attempted to waste their time. it’s amazing how black people seem to be so adverse to the showing of natural kinks and coils. i’m proud of my son’s hair, and i love it just the way it is and can’t wait for it to get longer and longer. shooot i’d *dare* someone to try to insinuate his hair wasn’t just fine just the way it comes, or imply that it would look better if the curls weren’t as tight. rubbish, that! there’s no better hair than healthy hair, and his will be healthy for as long as i have a say so in it. (and long, too!)
Well I guess they learned. Good now they can understand that that’s how the hair is and its not going to change nor should it. I think alot of people are angry at black hair because they automatically assume we are purposely doing something to make it look afro’d or fluffy/puffy, and they find the “taming” style like cornrow and twist to be “fads”. You can’t have it both ways. Black people are not styling their hair or wearing their hair out as a statement piece. So yes you come over here and see if you can handle this head of hair and see how you would style it in the end. Idiots.
Love the natural look…..it’s like coming full circle.
Love it! The more the merrier.
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EWWW
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Tina, stop please
You are so rude!
I’m starting to think there’s more to it with her than just trolling.
y r all the kids the same shade of beige? black kids come in all colors and all hair types. white people are the only ones who come in one color (or lack thereof). mind games.
They are so not the same shade of beige, please look closer. Plus, lighting and makeup also can alter a skin’s appearance. These kids are all beautiful and that is what’s more important.
I’m really not trying to be rude, but these type of craziness about how black people should carry their hair is made in America. White teachers have no right to make any rules or make any non-white children feel uncomfortable that their hair should be wear in a certain way… I’m 35 and all my life living in Scandinavia have I ever being disrespected that my hair is not pretty, neither have I ever heard from any black person that they’ve been bullied about their hair. I’m getting too many complements from my Europeans friends as well as a total stranger that my natural hair is beautiful. And they adores our little kids with afro, kinky,curly, hair too. We’re living in a free world and shouldn’t let anyone (white person)degrade our identity (hair). This really annoys me.
Its true. I went in Germany to school. I never had this problems with teachers. They never cared, they had better things to do than checking how my hair looks like, unfortunately one of the things they cared was checking my homeworks 🙂
yesss, my german teacher(s) have complemented my hair, but maaaan oh man the homework thing. they are strict about it!
These kiddies are totes adorbs! It always warms my heart to see kids of color in advertizements. They’re always the cutest!
ginger cutie with her puffs!! love love love! <3
that’s her natural hair color?
Judging by her eyebrows I’m guessing it is. I can’t imagine anyone putting dye or chemicals in that baby’s hair at that age
After visiting Sweden earlier this year, I learned that the African/Black culture is fully embraced in Sweden as it is – natural and real. Swedes take no issue with people of other cultures being just themselves, in fact, they get rather passionate about authenticity. H&M has featured many women and men of color in their ads, which is a real example considering it’s a culture that prides themselves on being fair skinned and fair haired. It’s refreshing and will hopefully encourage more westernized companies to open their campaigns to people of all colors in their natural, authentic way.
It’s not just Sweden but the Scandinavian culture in general. Although it’s paticularily the Danes and the Swedes. In the U.S Black beauty padgent contestant naturals have been told to have flowing straight hair like Beyonce or Tyra Banks. Miss Denmark 2008 was a kinky haired sister! The Scandinavian culture in general is very tolerant and discrimination of any kind is unnacceptable.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the whites who most loath our hair are descendant of forfathers where all the racists, greedy, overbearing, selfish colonists came from (Britian, Spain, France, Nazi Germany) and tend to come off as very ignorant and insensative. No offense to people who have British, Spanish or German blood because there are good and bad types from every part of the world it just seems it can come in different proportions. Italians, Poles, and Scandinavians all like my hair.
Oh, and I love H&M and the kids ads are adorable. Beautiful, gorgeous hair! I also noticed Target also has alot of natural head ads and don’t carry kiddy perms. We’re making progress and the media is helping us!
This is a categorically not true and misinformed. Italy and Poland are two of the most terribly racist countries on the continent. They’re all as bad as each other. There’s no post racial utopia anywhere.
When was the last time you visited?
Hi ispeaknorsecode;
I visted Poland and Italy a couple of years ago and my experience was overwhelmingly positive. Yes, some people in Poland did stare at me, not in a bad way but I reckon it’s just because it’s uncommen to see black people there. While Poles do come across as more stuffy than other Europeans I don’t think it was because I was black. I got lots of attention and the people were very nice. It doesn’t seem like racism is a huge problem there to me.
I agree that you can probably find racism throughout parts of Europe, but I was referring to my experience I’ve had in the United States with people I know personaly of European decent (and thus, decendant of the very people who enslaved us). In Italy the people were very welcoming and friendly; although I am aware of the presence of racism there. I believe this mostly stems from immigration from Africa and Middle Eastern countries into Europe and colored peoples overrepresentation in crime.
I did get one racist comment in Denmark, however. It seems to me that racism here is limited to older, more conservative people and mostly directed toward Muslim immigrants. The younger generations are much more tolerant. It does seem the more ignorant and uneducated the racist person is the more likely they are to display that in language.
I come from the UK and it is hands down one of the most tolerant places to live in Europe. The Eastern bloc is generally behind the rest of Europe. London is one of Europe’s most progressive cities, I have yet to meet anyone who ‘loathed’ my 4C hair from any racial background. That being said, Europe is not a utopian dream. I’ve experienced racism recently in both Italy and Paris.
there is racism throughout the UK as well.
thats a rash generalization. they are just as many unaccepting Europeans including those from Sweden and Denmark as there are unaccepting Americans…..
I have relatives who live in Sweden, and like everywhere in Europe, Sweden too is becoming more and more right wing. It is pure fantasy to believe that black culture is fully embraced there. Having said that, proper respect to the Swedish documentary makers of the Black Power Mix Tape. That film caused such outrage in America, diplomatic ties were broken for a while.
Hi Bruny – The natural ladies serving in each branch of the military are having the same issue. Yes EACh branch. I have heard things like, a white supervisor telling a servicemember wearing their hair in double strand twists that her hair is faddish and out of regs.
I remember when I was in the Marine Corps that I wasnt allowed to wear more than two braids in my hair until after 1995. Yes 1995 they changed the reg and today 2013 they are still having an issue with our hair.
While in bootcamp I didnt have access to a relaxer so I transitioned not knowing that’s what I was doing. LOL! Anyway I couldnt wear my hair in an afro. I had to gel it down to make it look “appropriate and neat.” By the time I left bootcamp my hair was bright red and had so much build up on it and was bone dry. I basically had to cut my hair off and start again.
I have found that some feel uncomfortable about our hair and if they feel uncomfortable then they perceive our hair as unkept. Instead of those that find our hair unkept try to force us to change our style of choice they need to ask themselves what underlying issue they have with textured hair.
Sidenote: I use the term textured hair in place of kinky.
In my school, there are so many rules on black girls hair, whether the braids are too long(its a problem)whether we have natural hair, its a problem. We have had many assembly’s that are just related to black girls hair, how it should be kept. Please mind these are the white teachers saying this. They say that afros are too wild and untidy to be left out. Ahhh I get so irritated with people like these.
What would be more school appropriate, if they straightened their hair? Would that look more ‘civilized’? Interesting. Also, kudos to H&M for being bold enough to showcase some African American children that more closely represent the majority.
Very cute ad. We need more mainstream airtime and people need to stop hiding behind relaxers. It’s not that serious.
Those babies are beautiful & making $$$. It bothers me when I read so many negative comments on Beyonce’s baby Blue Ivy hair is “unkept & nappy”.
No, I suspect people are concerned with breakage because the hair isn’t moisturized resulting in a natural mohawk.
i don’t think that’s the reason. i think they truly are appalled that a black person would dare show their hair out in public in all its natural glory not curled to perfection in imitation of looser curls. hair doesn’t automatically break just because it’s dry. and on top of that, i’ll bet the ones doing the most criticizing of the style are probably the very ones whose own manes are in need of serious help.
that is not the reason. people talked about that child texture and style. no one was concerned with if it was moisturized or not…
MOST babies end up with a weird “hairstyle” at some point or another, due to the way that they sleep. That’s why they end up bald around the sides with only a little tuft on top, lol.
Y’all leave lil Blue alone. Her be crute.
Very nice!
I have the same type hair “KINKY” coily hair. Those children are adorable. These uptight negroes work my nerves about what appropriate title we should use for our hair. It is what it is…nappy, kinky, 4a-4z.. Who cares. I went natural 3 years ago and constantly get comments on my hair. And where are these people from who say these children hair is not appropriate for school? REALLY!!!
you couldve just as easy said just “coily”
“Don’t remove the kinks from your hair, remove them from your brain!” –Marcus Garvey
if you want to use the word kinky to describe hair feel free but there are many other phrases that i prefer to use…
@gapch
Thank you – now that I have your permission, I can continue to use “kinky” & “nappy” & i addition to “curly” & “coily.”
What a relief.
Aw, come on – thumbs down? Who mad at Mr. Garvey, lol?
I’ve used the term “nappy” to describe my hair and I’ve offended others. Certain words just rub some the wrong way
Natural sista – if I could give you a thousand more likes I would. Love it
Oh the word “kinky” just boils my blood…. so many other ways and phrases to describe their hair
What words would you use to describe their hair?
tightly curled, afro textured, afro styled, coily, springy, curly, spongy, big, fluffy, free flowing, free formed, gorgeous, type 4 but would i use kinky ? absolutely not. to me and many others its no better than nappy….. maybe its generational maybe its regional but for me i dont care to describe hair as kinky and it boils my blood when i see it in print or hear it spoken…. its not part of my vocabulary to use….
It has “kinks” in it. I suspect that it is the negative connotation that makes your blood boil – just like some people take umbrage with being called “black” because the word has been so maligned.
@HeavnsGirl wait, some people don’t like being called black?? I’m old school…child of the 70’s, well a baby…I’m BLACK, I’ve never heard heard that…
Yes! Some folks use “black” like a 4-letter word of the profane variety!! “Black & ugly” are often used in tandem.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
for me it does have a negative connotation. I would say it has “kinks” either. just me and everyone i know ….
i wouldnt say that it has “kinks” either
I always felt it was better to say kinky instead of nappy. You know kinky is an actual texture right? Kinky- 2. (of hair) closely or tightly curled. Maybe you know something that we don’t. We use silky, frizzy, shaggy, textured, ect to describe a persons hair. What’s wrong with kinky?. If you can find other words please SHARE THEM.
see the comment above. thats just a FEW other ways to describe their hair….
could simply say natural textured
but why though? Their hair IS kinky, that’s not a profane word. Shake off those mental chains of slavery, sheesh….
no chains of slavery… just a word i prefer not to use…
I once read a comment on BGLH where the poster said she didn’t like to use the word “kinky” because of of it’s sexual connotation or something along those lines
I love these! I’m currently reading through comments on an old thread on the Long Hair Care Forum, and it’s shocking that people believe that children with kinky hair look unkempt when they wear their hair out like this. Some even said it’s not appropriate for school. If I ever have children, no matter their gender, I want them to rock their ‘fro at school like these kids.
Anyways. My favorite is the bottom right one. His expression 🙂
Adorable!
To echo everyone else, these photos make me happy, and all four of those kids are beyond adorable. One issue I noticed though–where’s the dark skin? I see 4 adorable faces, but not one of them is a shade beyond milk chocolate. I think H&M is taking a step in the right direction, but until I start seeing cocoa-skinned little Black children in back-to-school catalogues, my joy over this is a bit subdued.
Dananana got a number of thumbs-down, but I wondered the same thing. Can we see some little chocolate churren with naturally kinky hair??
Yeah, I’m not sure why I got so many thumbs down–I was only trying to begin a respectful and/or intellectual dialogue on colorism within the Black community and modeling profession. Leila asked what we thought, and that’s something that bothered me about this photo. Apparently you and I are the only ones who noticed….
LET’S BE BLUNT I DON’T SEE ANY KIDS THAT ARE CHOCOLATE LIKE TYRESE, MORRIS CHESTNUT DARK YEA I WENT THERE CAUSE IT’S TRUE. AND IS A GORGEOUS COLOR
Thank you, Tina. I don’t understand why people are deliberately being obtuse about what is meant by “dark-skinned.” How about some curly/kinky/nappy-haired little cuties in the mahogany brown to blue-black range? I have a family full of them if they need some.
It makes me sad that sometimes we as black folks are so happy to see ANY representation of ourselves in the media that we cheer at every little thing and are afraid to ask for more. Yes these children are beautiful and I love that their hair is being celebrated, but this hair thing goes right in line with colorism like 2 sides of the same hand.
@ HeavnsGirl
You can celebrate progress, this is progress and thats something, as it opens the door for more progress to be made They don’t have to feature minorities at all and some companies never will. It might not be where it needs to be but at least change is happening and thats something that shouldn’t be ignored. There was a time this would never have happened so yes it should be celebrated, but that doesn’t undermine where the end goal is. You can cheer a baby starting its first steps before you cheer it walking.
Change and progress is better than stagnation.
So if your milk chocolate you’re not considered dark skin?
*So if you’re milk chocolate you not considered dark skin?
Rain –
If “milk” and “dark” chocolate were the same color, one would not be called “dark.”
In a world where colorism reigns supreme, it would be great to see some black-black children with their naturally nappy hair in these photos.
Better?
I think it depends on the person and their background…
Meaning I’ve called people dark skinned or brown skinned and people would say no they’re not…
Or I call myself brown skinned and people have told me no you’re light skinned. I gave up on trying to classify folks because everyone isn’t going to agree. Nonetheless I think there is beauty in EVERY shade!
agreeing with tracy here. i’ve considered myself fairly dark most of my life- actually i never thought about it until college when my roommate called me “light-skinned.” it had never occurred to me that i was, before, because my aunt had a light beige complexion and turned a golden honey when suntanned- in winter her skin was what my family called “fair” and she’s one of the few black women i’ve ever known who actually bought skin bronzer/tanner, which i’d thought only white women used.
so…compared to her, i WAS dark skinned, but to my very dark skinned roommate, whose skin turned pretty much black marble in the summer lol i was considered light because my skin has a red undertone and is earthy, med. brownish. if you can picture it.
basically…it’s all relative.
so to me, the little children in the photos, 3 of the 4 being my complexion- i’ll be honest that i didn’t register the lack of more melanin but i’ll agree that more diversity to the darker side of the spectrum could have been exhibited here.
I understand where you are coming from with the desire of more diverse range of darker skin tones but like I said in the other comment, I observed ‘milk’ chocolate as a various tone in the dark skin category just like there can be differences in someone who is dark brown/dark chocolate compared to someone who has a blue-black skin tone does not take away from them being considered dark, in my opinion they all come under the same umbrella as dark skinned so I was slightly confused.
If you put milk chocolate against caramel there would be nothing “milky” about it and in comparison will look darker so I guess these terms are relative to your own experiences.
I wasn’t talking about the definition of light vs. dark, Rain…I was talking about how none of the kids are past medium brown (or milk chocolate) on the flesh color spectrum. If you’d like to consider that tone dark-skinned, that’s your prerogative-light/dark classifications are highly subjective and regionally based anyway. All I know is that I am the same color as those kids, and I’m tired of only seeing my skin tone or lighter in most magazines, when I grew up with beautiful cousins born with a variety of skin shades darker than mine.
I understand what you are saying with the need of a more diverse range of skin tones in the media, but I have always observed ‘milk’ chocolate as a various tone in the dark skin category like the way you can have someone who is the same colour as dark chocolate but also someone who is a blue-black skin tone there are slight differences but they all come under the same umbrella. Not undermining your point but when I see comments referring to ‘chocolate’ I was confused because to me they are chocolate.
I’ll keep saying it.. when we love and accept our natural selves the world will accept our natural selves too. It starts with US naturals!! These photos make me very happy!
Gorgeous! Love the editing.
I love their kinks. They’re ADORABLE!
LOVE, love, LOVE! I think this is great—these kids are posing with the hair they were born with. Well done H&M!
That girl at the top left corner… her hair tho! *Homer drool…*
Luv these pics…kudos to H&M, I’ve got a feeling that tightly coiled hair and modern fros is about to hit mainstream big time!
Cute cute cute!
Little darlings; and about time that fashion got on the up and up. The kids are gorgeous, the photos well shot, and nothing racially charged about them. That’s what’s up!
vertmoot.blogspot.com
BEAUTIFUL
I don’t just love this because the children have kinky hair. The photos genuinely look great. Well done H&M.
The Babies!!!!!!! So precious.
Awwwww! Them some beautiful babies!
I love it
This is so adorable!
Beautiful kids!!!
When we embrace our beauty others see that. That little red head has my uterus doing the pepper seed!
About time ! The children are very cute . I shop a lot in this store and would love to see more black children modelling .
I love it!
I think it’s great! The kids are beautiful.