She may have risen to fame with “Whip My Hair,” but the 21-year-old has loved sporting a shaved head in the years since.
Jada Pinkett Smith expressed how hard it was to shave her head amidst her ongoing battle with alopecia, but her 21-year-old daughter Willow Smith has never been one to shy away from rocking a buzz cut.
During a recent interview with Glamour UK, the “Female Energy” songstress opened up about her hair journey, and how she came to carry herself with so much confidence without any hair to hide behind. “I like to see a glare on my scalp, a bounce of light,” Willow explained.
“Shaving my head is maybe the most radical thing I’ve done in the name of beauty,” the California native declared, adding that, “as a Black woman, there were a lot of layers” to her relationship with learning to love her hair and skin while growing up.
Never one to walk away from experimenting with a new style, the “Meet Me At Our Spot” hitmaker said, “However I’m feeling, I like to do that” of her daily getting ready routine.
“I don’t really like to think about it too much. I love to be free with it. I think just being me sometimes is radical.”
When did Willow Smith shave her head?
As Page Six notes, Willow shaved her head onstage in the summer of 2020 during a performance of “Whip My Hair.” Speaking on the famous moment, she said, “I’m always shaving my head at monumental times in my life when things are really changing. And this is definitely one of those moments.”
Elsewhere in her interview, the 21-year-old opened up about being a Black rock singer, and the backlash she’s faced because of it.
Why did Willow Smith shave her hair?
Outside of being the daughter of Will Smith and Jada, Willow, 21, is known for her career in the entertainment industry, which includes the 2016 hit single, Whip My Hair.
While she might have been whipping her hair back and forth then, she now rocks a shaved look that she obtained while on stage performing the song, which ended with a barber coming out and shaving her hair.
“My favorite song in the set right now just because of how it feels to sing would probably have to be ‘Whip My Hair,” Willow said during her concert, according to Insider.
“This is going to be my third time in my life shaving my head. I’m always shaving my head at monumental times in my life when things are really changing and this is definitely one of those moments.”
At the time of her decision, her album Lately I Feel Everything was released.
The first time Willow shaved her head was in 2012, during the Whip My Hair tour.
Did Willow Smith convince her mother to shave her head?
The same year that Willow debuted her shaved head, Jada also debuted a new hairstyle too, that was inspired by her daughter.
At the time, Jada revealed that Willow had convinced her of doing it due to her ongoing struggles with hair loss due to alopecia.
“Willow made me do it because it was time to let go BUT … my 50’s are bout to be Divinely lit with this shed,” Jada said on Instagram.
In 2018, Jada opened up about her “issues with hair loss” during an episode of Red Table Talk, telling fans, “It was terrifying when it first started. I was in the shower one day and had just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my god, am I going bald?’
“It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking in fear. That’s why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it.”
