Black hair policed; More drama on Love Island

For far too long, Black women have been policed on how they style their hair, and once again, they faced policing when the season eight cast for Love Island USA was revealed.

Typically, protective styles such as braids, twists, and faux locs are the go-to styles for Black women when on vacation, due to their minimal maintenance and protection of natural hair from environmental damage. However, some may opt for either a weave, lace front or their natural hair, and that is completely fine.

When the season eight cast of Love Island USA was revealed, people noticed that islanders Aniya Harvey and Trinity Tatum, who are both Black, opted not to wear braids during their time in the Love Island villa. Harvey chose a tight curly hairstyle, while Tatum would dabble between wearing her hair straight or in loose curls. Their choice of hairstyle has led to an unnecessary online debate with people discussing how they would be able to maintain their chosen hairstyles during their stay in Fiji, posting clips where they would zoom in on their hair and make critiques or urge Black women who appear on the show to strictly stick to wearing protective styles like knotless or boho braids because they consider them more lasting and feasible during their stay in the villa.

Sol Dean, a season eight bombshell who was dumped from the villa on day 14, also faced ridicule regarding how her pixie cut was styled. Those who ridiculed her seemed to have overlooked the fact that she adopted the hairstyle due to her losing her hair while grieving the loss of her father. When appearing on Love Island: After Sun, along with fellow bombshell Gabriel Vasconcelos, who was also dumped from the villa on day 14, co-host Ciara Miller asked Dean if she saw the comments people made about her pixie cut before telling fans to stop policing Black women’s hair.

“No one should ever comment on someone’s hair. If they feel comfortable and confident in it, then let them rock it,” Dean responded.

Policing Black women’s hair is already an issue outside of the Love Island franchise. Black girls and women have faced systemic and social scrutiny, regulation, and penalization for natural and protective hairstyles in professional, educational and public settings. This led to advocacy groups and lawmakers championing the CROWN Act to protect people from hair discrimination in work and educational spaces. It is disheartening to see that Black women who appear on Love Island cannot escape that and must face ridicule from viewers compared to their non-Black fellow islanders. What is also saddening is that most of the critiques are made by Black viewers, the same people who could also face hair policing.

While braids are more convenient for some, not everyone is into braids, and that is okay. Critiquing someone’s choice of hairstyle is a toxic form of modern hair surveillance. If both Harvey and Tatum are content wearing different hairstyles other than braids, that is their business, and if Dean is content with the way her pixie cut is styled, there is nothing to worry about. In fact, we should not even be focusing on anyone’s hair because that is not the point of Love Island. Before the season’s premiere, Love Island USA posted a message on their Instagram page asking viewers to be respectful, considering the high number of negative comments that were made about the season seven islanders. Let us remember that message and spread positivity.