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Thanks to faithful reader Tashia Jones (Hey, girl!), we were sent a story about all the fuss over Angelina Jolie putting extensions in the head of her daughter Zahara at just six years old. To be specific, she doesn’t have a long, flowing sew-in or something like that, but braids (the old-school Brandy kind). Radar Online talked to celebrity “groomer,” DaRico Jackson, who commented on the fact that the braids put in little Zahara’s hair were not only promoting her to second guess her own beauty, but they will damage her own hair in the future:

“If Angelina wants Zahara to be in touch with her roots and have her hair braided then she can do that with the child’s own hair and she doesn’t need to add extensions, Jackson stated. “She is far too young for that and Angelina is creating insecurity in the little girl that what she has is not good enough. Growing up with siblings who have long flowing hair, Zahara may grow to feel that her own natural hair is not pretty enough, and that without the fake hair she is not beautiful. She should be made to embrace who she is.”

Waltzing around with her mommy recently, little Zahara (from Ethiopia) held Angelina’s hand as she showed off her new braided extensions that reached down to the middle of her back in a ponytail. While many people (mainstream websites of course) thought the braided look was cute, many hair experts seemed to jump out the woodworks and blast Jolie for resorting to extensions for a young child.

As much as we used to see Jolie parading Zahara around with uncombed hair that was probably tangled as all hell, I’m not really surprised that she would resort to throwing braided extensions in her hair. As many kids as she has in her pack, and running around starring in movies and directing joints, she might not have the time. Because of that, the one whose hair might need the most tender love and care just doesn’t seem to get it. I’m just wondering why they won’t hire someone to take this child to the salon every few weeks!? Seriously, some braids using her own hair wouldn’t have taken as much time as having someone put extensions in Zahara’s head, which I’m sure had that little girl tired and antsy (I know that’s how I end up feeling!). I don’t think I started wearing braided hairstyles with extensions until I was like 12, and even then, after one month they were driving me crazy. When I took them bad boys out they had already started tugging some of my hair out, especially around my edges, so I’m hoping she won’t lose much of her own hair when they finally un-braid those things.

I totally agree with Jackson that this look is not necessary at such an early stage in her life. When you’re young, that’s when parents should be working with your hair, and as unruly as we would see Zahara’s mane looking since she was a baby, it’s a shame to see she the few options she’s being offered. However, if we’re going to put Angelina on a skewer for resorting to braided extensions, we also have to put some criticism on ourselves for putting perms in our children’s hair at a similar age, if not younger. As my sister would say, you can take out braids, but you can’t take out a perm (Well, you can, but that might take even more work).

In the end, braids are all good, but why not try it out with her own hair first? Angie should use some of that baller money she has and invest in Zahara’s hair future by getting someone to actually offer it some real TLC. I’m not hating on Angie hard for this decision, because having a child of a different background then your own probably will cause you to have some missteps when it comes to dealing with hair, keeping them in touch with their own culture, and more. However, this look is just a little much at six. But what do you think?

*Feature photo courtesy of mybrownbaby.com

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