Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for iHeartRadio / Turner
- Justin Bieber shaved his hair after facing criticism for a style resembling locs in April.
- Critics accused the singer of cultural appropriation and insensitivity on social media.
- Bieber responded to criticism over a similar style in 2016, saying: "It's just my hair."
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Justin Bieber has shaved his hair off after being accused of cultural appropriation.
The singer, 27, was criticized for wearing cornrows and locs in 2016, and again for wearing a style resembling locs in April of this year. As Insider's Callie Ahlgrim previously reported, these hairstyles are inextricably associated with Black culture and therefore considered insensitive for white people to wear.
Bieber debuted his shorter hair on Instagram on Monday, with a photo of himself and his wife Hailey.
Bieber didn't give any reason for the new look or comment on the recent criticism in his photo caption, which said: "Happy Sunday." Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Bieber doesn't appear to have publicly responded to accusations of cultural appropriation from critics of his selfies posted to Instagram, which showed him wearing a hairstyle that greatly resembled locs on April 25 and 26. Bieber posted 66 additional posts that showed him wearing the style into May.
Following the criticism, Bieber shared an Instagram post on April 26 with a message that said: "There's power in acknowledging our insecurities, WE ALL GOT EM." And in the caption, he wrote: "It's okay to have insecurities, open up and talk about them it's healthy."
It's unclear if this was in response to the accusations he faced over his hair.
"This is cultural appropriation... I know you can do better," a fan account for Hailey commented on Bieber's Instagram selfie from April 26.
"Listen @justinbieber I don't care how long I've liked you, this is cultural appropriation and I don't like it. As a Black woman, this is totally offensive and disrespectful. Cut your hair or fix it, the fact that it is 2021 and people are still appropriating black people is gross," one fan wrote on Twitter on the same date.
-Dom | 1/3 of Dèni (@jadorehyungwon) April 26, 2021
Another wrote: "It's not just 'hair.' Cultural appropriation is about the power dynamic. When people [with] privilege decide to 'validate' customs, traditions, stuff holding significance that oppressed people have long been marginalized for. He's a white guy w power & privilege & he's wrong for that."
-tara loves lily (@sinsofbieber) April 26, 2021
This comment may have been a response to a remark that Bieber made in 2016, when he was recorded saying that "it's just my hair" in response to the criticism, as The Fader previously reported.
Following Bieber's comment at the time, Ebony's Josie Pickens wrote about why it's problematic for white people to wear traditionally Black hairstyles like locs.
"When the star spoke about his brand new and bleached blonde dreadlocks being 'just hair', I wondered if he observed that the Black people who made locs popular in the U.S. and throughout the African Diaspora were militants who hoped and worked to annihilate their White oppressors," Pickens wrote.
She later added: "The privilege of being able to wear locs sans scrutiny, while simultaneously not needing to know anything about their history is what p----- Black folks off."
"It is maddening that White people love the culture that we produce so much - whether it be dreadlocks or Drake, but seem ambivalent towards our suffering and what it costs to create such a gorgeous culture in the face [of] constant erasure and hate," she continued. "And, yes, whites wearing dreadlocks absolutely is cultural appropriation."
She added that the singer's "response that his dreadlocks are just hair, speaks precisely to the fact that he has disconnected locs from their history and cultural significance," and said that is the "exact definition of cultural appropriation."