During her rare interview with Essence and on the heels of her haircare line launch, Beyonce gave insight on what inspired her BIG CHOP in 2013.
According to COMPLEX Last week, the music superstar announced a return to her roots with her new haircare line, Cécrid, set to launch on Tuesday.
The 42-year-old singer spoke in more detail about Cécrid and how it was inspired by her mother, Ms. Tina Knowles, a former hairdresser who owned and operated her own beauty salon.
“I have vivid memories of my mother working as a hairstylist right from our home. She built a small salon at the back of our house, and I can recall catching glimpses of her while I watched cartoons or played with my dolls and toys. These moments are etched into every corner of my childhood memories,” said Beyoncé
“I saw her shampooing and trimming hair, transforming women, leaving them feeling really good. Looking back, it was more than just a hair appointment—it was therapy. I worked in her salon, sweeping the floors and helping out where I could. I used to eavesdrop and listen in on their conversations intently. It was a sacred space for these women. She was so good and so talented that eventually, her clientele outgrew her at-home salon. So that’s when she opened her first hair salon, Headliners.”
It was those early experiences that eventually led Beyoncé to make her own transformation in 2013 when she chopped off her signature locs of hair into a pixie cut.
“I remember the day I decided to just cut all my hair off. I didn’t have a particular style in mind. It wasn’t an aesthetic choice, but it was a very big emotional transformation and metamorphosis that I was going through,” said the singer.
“So much of my identity as a performer has been connected to flowing hair. Cutting my hair off was me rebelling against being this woman that society thinks I’m supposed to be. I was a new mother, and something about the liberation of becoming a mother made me want to just shed all of that. It was a physical representation of me shedding the expectations put upon me. I just wanted it off.”
Beyoncé continued, “Neal Farinah, my hairstylist and friend, was freaking out because it was really long, really thick and really healthy. I just got the scissors and chopped it off. It was very intentional. And it was what I needed to do. And after that, I became super brave. It was the first step to many more audacious decisions I made in my life and my career that have led to who I am now.”
Per Essence, Cécrid will launch as an eight-piece collection on Feb. 20, including shampoos, scalp scrubs, deep conditioners, masks, lotions, oils, and other treatments.
Essence dropped some of the exclusive pictures they took for Beyoncé’s editorial.
See below:
Bey’s nightly hair routine
ESSENCE: What’s your nightly hair routine? Are there any tips or tricks you incorporate?
Beyoncé: It’s all about moisture for me—adding oil to my scalp and covering my hair at night so the oils could penetrate.
It brings back such great memories of my rituals as a child to maintain a healthy scalp. I wrap my hair up and sometimes sleep in some cute rollers with a net or bonnet, depending on how I am wearing my hair.
I try to avoid friction, my hair reverting and using unnecessary heat.
Black women’s sense of self is so often connected to their hair.
How do we allow it to bring us joy and accentuate who we are, without it completely defining our personhood?
We can wear our hair natural, straight, braids, weaves and wigs.
There’s power in self-expression and in feeling free to show up as we choose, in whatever hair we choose.
For me, joy comes from making myself a priority and making my hair a priority.
It is really important for me to make time for the sacred rituals of self-care.
One hair ritual I always used was fermented rice water.
We put our own spin on it and figured out how to turn it into a powder.
All you need to do is add water, so it’s much easier and instant— plus we added rose, so it smells beautiful.
I do this when my hair needs it, after I color my hair, after a tour.
It’s healing for my hair but also for me. I think one of the beautiful things that inspired this line was respecting these ancient traditions and mixing them with technology and science.
