JAY-Z’s recent switch from long locs to a full afro has sparked plenty of conversation online. But according to Beyoncé, the story behind his hair journey actually began years ago with their daughter, Blue Ivy.
In a new video shared to Cécred’s YouTube channel, Beyoncé revealed that Jay first decided to grow out his hair after Blue opened up about not feeling confident about her hair as a young child.
“Our daughter was about five and she wasn’t feeling very confident about her hair at that time,” Beyoncé explained in the video. “When she told her father that, it inspired Jay to grow out his hair.”
Beyoncé said the couple wanted Blue to love every part of her natural curls.
“We really wanted her to love and embrace every inch of her gorgeous curls. It also inspired Blue to be the voice of the award-winning book Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, as well as songs like ‘Formation,’ ‘Brown Skin Girl,’ ‘Baby Hair,’ and ‘Afro,’” she added.
JAY-Z’s decision to grow his hair became one way of showing his daughter that her hair texture was something to be celebrated.
“I thought it was always beautiful that the real reason Jay grew out his hair was to show Blue that her hair was like his hair,” Beyoncé said.
After more than eight years in locs, JAY-Z debuted a full afro on May 30 at The Roots festival in Philadelphia. Beyoncé revealed in the video that the change was planned months in advance and carried a deeply personal meaning.
“Everyone wants to know the details of Jay’s hair transformation. Jay told me a few months ago he was planning on combing out his locs for the Philly show with the Roots. He wanted to do this in honor of his father. His name was Agnes Reeves and his favorite sports team was from Philly,” Beyoncé says in the video.
“His dad used to rock a fro, so he wanted to rock a fro in his honor,” she added.
In the video, Beyoncé documented the lengthy process of removing the locs, revealing that it took six days of patience, detangling, deep conditioning, and help from family members, including Blue herself.
At one point, Blue can be seen helping detangle her father’s hair.
“What you doing, Blue?” Beyoncé asks.
“I’m detangling his hair,” Blue responds.
Beyoncé herself was part of the process, lovingly helping remove the locs. Afterward, she detangled and deep conditioned his hair before preparing it for its debut.
“I blow-dried his hair and trimmed his ends before we washed it. And on show day, his fro was beautiful from start to finish,” she said.