Gabrielle Union Responds To Critics Of Daughter’s Hair

While Gabrielle Union appears to be an attentive mother, she’s letting everyone know that not everything’s going to be perfect when it comes to her 2-year-old daughter’s appearance, namely her hair.

The actress opened up in an interview with MadameNoire that was published Thursday (February 18) about social media criticism of Kaavia’s hair. She says that the toddler swims daily and that, just like regular kids, her hair isn’t always done.

“Even when her hair is done in the morning, she swims,” she explained. “So it’s not going to be picture perfect or whatever people feel that means. I’m human. I see comments where they’re like, ‘That child’s hair is never done.’ And it is done, I just don’t chase her around making sure that we document her looking super, super done every single day. You’ll see her like that on occasion.”

RELATED: Watch Gabrielle Union And Daughter Kaavia In Fun Battle Over Pasta

Union knows a thing or two about hair and products, considering she has a hair care line, Flawless by Gabrielle Union. She told the outlet for Black women that the health of her children’s hair is much more important to her than appearance. Union also says her stepdaughter, Zaya, also likes to be creative with her hair.

“She loves to color her hair,” Union added. “I’m just really trying to teach her the importance of taking care of your hair. You want to dye it? Cool. But you got to take care of it. You’ve got to moisturize it. You’ve got to comb through it all. Every day! You’ve got to wrap it up. All of these things.”

There’s a balance between giving them creative freedom of expression and style and “the freedom to just exist without having to think about their hair all the time,” she noted.

As for herself, Union hasn’t shied away about her own struggles with having natural hair in Hollywood and says she works with her own stylists on every production set.

RELATED: Gabrielle Union On Reaffirming Her Daughters’ Blackness

“They know my hair, they know what it takes to keep it healthy,” she said. “They know what can cause damage quickly. So we create rituals in the hair and makeup trailer. Before work, we treat my hair. After work, we treat my hair. We do different steams every few days just to make sure it’s healthy and I survive a project.” 

Union puts her stylists in every contract she signs so she’s in control of her hair’s health and look, she noted.