“Love and Hip Hop: Miami” star Amara La Negra swapped out her Afro for a straight hairstyle, and folks seemed to have a problem with her decision.
La Negra’s Afrocentric hairdo and colorism experiences in the Latina community happened to be a prominent storyline during season 1 of “LHHMIA.” A music producer and cast mate of the VH1 series urged the Dominican singer, who identifies as Afro-Latino, to ditch her Afro to be more successful in the music industry. She pushed back, refusing to change her ‘do, and in the process gained the support of many fans who commended her for doing so. Therefore, it came as a shock to fans to see the star sporting straight hair.
The “Unstoppable” artist took to Instagram on March 18 with a photo of her rocking sleek black tresses, seemingly at a hair salon, as opposed to sporting her signature Afro. She wrote in her caption, “Tu bebé! Im yo Baby!”
Amara La Negra. (Photo: @amaralanegra/Instagram)
A few days before the reality star debuted her new jet-black mane, she was seen sporting a blond lace front wig, which prompted a wave of mixed opinions from social media users.
Amara La Negra. (Photo: @amaralanegra/Instagram)
Many fans apparently felt La Negra gave in to the European standard of beauty by getting rid of her signature Afro hairstyle.
“Why you wearing straight hair now 😱?” one fan asked underneath La Negra’s Instagram. “You are a sellout! With her afro she never got passed 1000 likes now she go straight and blonde she received over 100,000 likes what happened to you staying true to yourself Amara 🤣😂 girl bye that white man money got you changing your look 🤷🏾♀️.”
“Wow a beautiful Black goddess wearing a white woman ‘hairstyle.’ Smh. That’s what the system does,” another person commented. “Brainwash and force us to not embrace our natural beauty 💯🖤 I thought Amara was better than that smh.”
A third fan said, “The straight hair is okay, but don’t forget about the afro Amara. We stood with you don’t let us down 😩.”
Others defended the “LHHMIA” star proclaiming that her hair doesn’t have anything to do with her stance.
“People are bitter af!” one supporter wrote. “Black women are embracing their beauty, playing with different hairstyles. It doesn’t mean the straight hair is permanent 👏🏾.”
“Black women aren’t known to want to look one way all day everyday, since when has that become a problem? Ya’ll weird Hollywood she looks amazing 💕😍 !”
“Wow smh guys she looks great with curly or straight hair, plus I don’t think its permanent. Bag off her!”
La Negra told Teen Vogue during a June 2018 interview that she’s always been bashed for her dark complexion and Afro in the Latin entertainment industry. She said music execs even suggested she change her appearance, which is something that bothered her all of her life.
“I’m always told that I need to change my hair,” she said. “If they don’t accept me, that’s their problem. The problem is not me, it’s them.”
She added, “I love the fact that I’m inspiring other people to come out of that box and be like, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna be me. Who cares what everybody else has to say?'”
