Young love can make you do some crazy things — in the case of Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin, it includes getting a pretty misguided hairstyle.
In a picture posted to Instagram, the “What Do You Mean” singer points to his new cornrows while Baldwin poses next to him. An unidentified second woman smiles at the camera. And, don't worry, the Biebs already knows they're bad. "Hailey made me get corn rows like an absolute douche bag, these will be off tomorrow trust me Danny," he wrote in the caption, not even making eye contact with the camera.
Another photo — among the slew of images of the alleged new couple in Anguilla and St. Barths — shows the braids in detail.
Bieber joins Kevin Federline, Justin Timberlake, and David Beckham as another white male celebrity to appropriate the traditionally Black hairstyle. And while we're glad that Bieber is becoming somewhat self-aware enough to know that his cornrows are in poor taste, our question is: Why post a photo to your 52 million followers at all? Or even get them?
This isn't the singer's first brush with cultural appropriation either — last year, Bieber rushed to Kylie Jenner’s defense when she wore cornrows herself. "I’m the first to know this. But saying she’s being racist because she has her hair in braids is ridiculous," he commented on her Instagram photo. "Let’s focus on the bigger picture and instead of fighting over something stupid let's do something about equality, but it doesn’t start here blasting a 17-year-old kid for wearing braids."
Unsurprisingly, many people aren't happy about his new style.
@justinbieber get those cornrows off of your head it's ugly and it's called cultural appropriation ;~)
— mari (@ravensariana) January 4, 2016@justinbieber yes hi sir you cannot. Wear. Your. Hair. In. Braids. Like. That. It's cultural appropriation and disrespectful
— saphire // jan 12th (@biebersosvato) January 4, 2016@justinbieber how many times we gotta school you on cultural appropriation little boy???
— diana (@adderauhl) January 4, 2016While Bieber may think it's harmless for him to wear cornrows, he should remember what Amandla Stenberg pointed out after the Jenner controversy: "When u appropriate black features and culture but fail to use ur position of power to help black Americans by directing attention towards ur wigs instead of police brutality or racism #whitegirlsdoitbetter," she responded in a comment.
Bottom line: always listen to your gut — no matter how much you're trying to impress your new girlfriend.
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