Marie Claire’s Beauty Editor Chloe Metzger gave us a history of the glass hair trend and tried it when she claimed it was started by the Kardashians. The editor described the look as, “100 percent inspo-worthy look involving a sharp haircut that’s styled to smooth, polished, shiny perfection. Basically, it’s hair that looks like it was cut from glass.”
The editor credited Kim Kardashian with the hairstyle (sidenote: why do white people always want to credit the Kardashians for style and beauty looks?). Celebrity hairstylist, Keka Heron commented to Madame Noire, “It amazes me how people think because of their ‘celebrity’ they can take everything as theirs.”
What Marie Claire conveniently forgot to mention was that this inspo-worthy look is actually inspired and derived from a silk press. …a look that Black women have been rocking for years. Antoinette Hill, celebrity hairstylist for Remy Ma, Juju, Vanessa Simmons, explained to Madame Noire, “For decades, Black people have been creating this look – a press. We are the CREATORS of the trend. We have been using heat and flat-irons to manipulate our textures to create sleek and shiny looks on our natural textures and we do it AMAZING.” A silk press is a way for natural hair girls to get a relaxed look without having to perm their hair. This style is done on both adults and children alike. For children, Black parents may not want to straighten their kids’ hair for hair health purposes as well as being “too grown” of a look. A silk press is a great alternative look to perming your hair.
This entire “glass hair” trend is just a new obsession with age-old sheen. Black Twitter prevails (as always) and lit into Marie Claire over their appropriation of this hairstyle.
While this is another example of a larger problem within mainstream culture of appropriating Black culture, it also illustrates the lack of diversity in media. If Marie Claire had a Black woman editor or writer in the beauty department, this oversight would not have been made. It’s a perfect account of how a lack of diversity on a team can heavily affect content (as well as be incredibly embarrassing).
