Actress Gabrielle Union has made headlines for the self-love values she’s instilled in her daughter Kaavia James Union Wade when discussing the beauty behind the toddler’s birthmarks.
On July 11, Union took the approach a step further when sharing a video of the duo talking about their curly hair. In the Instagram post, the actress starts the conversation by asking Kaavia James how she would describe her coils.
Union said, “Tell me about your hair?” The 3-year-old responded, “My hair is puffy.” When the “Being Mary Jane” star asked how the tot would characterize mommy’s hair, Kaavia James called it “puffy.”
The video continued with Union encouraging Kaavia James to express appreciation toward their natural hair by asking if she liked or thought their hair was beautiful. The toddler replied “yes” to both questions. The clip ended with Kaavia James telling her mother what her hair can do.
She said, “You want to see what my hair do?” While doing an upward gesture, the toddler added, “My hair can go whoo.” Union jumped in by informing Kaavia James that her hair grows “to the sun.”
The 49-year-old said, “Your hair grows to the sun.” In addition to the upload, Union revealed in the caption that she continues to push her daughter to love herself because of warped beauty standards Black girls have to face growing up.
She wrote, “Teaching @kaaviajames to love every part of herself is a full time job with no days off but I approach it as an act of love. From the time Black girls are born, folks are checking our ears and nail beds to see how dark we might be or the incessant commentary about what “grade” of hair our kids might have. All our parts are up for discussion and often times, scorn.”
Union added that she wants Kaavia James to feel “beautiful and powerful” everywhere she goes without diminishing or taking the love from other people.
She said, “I want Kaav to feel beautiful and powerful in EVERY room she walks into no matter who is standing next to her. Her beauty, her power, her love, is HERS. I want her to be free of Eurocentric beauty ideals and embrace all our glory. She will know that loving all of herself in no way diminishes the love that others have for themselves. Being unique and amazing aren’t qualities reserved for a few, they are our birthright and we claim it.”
As fans viewed the post, many mentioned how much they loved Union’s message.
“She will take this with her for the rest of her life. I love this!”
“Training them up about our beauty is beautiful.”
“Love THIS!!!!!”
“LOVE. EVERY. SINGLE. WORD.”
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