Beyoncé Recalls the “Liberating” Decision to Cut Her Hair After Becoming a Mom

Beyonce is opening up about her hair journey in a rare recent interview where she explains how deeply personal her hair is to her situation in life.

In a function for Essencewhich included a whole series of photos with her mother, Tina Knowles, and her two daughters, Blue Ivy and Rumi, Beyoncé talked about her hair care line, Cécred, which will be available starting February 20.

the interview focuses primarily on Beyoncé’s hair journey, starting from her childhood, when she spent time at the salon where her mother worked as a hairstylist. the musician said that, when she looks back, going to a salon was “more than just a hairdresser’s appointment: it was therapy.”

“I worked in her living room, sweeping the floors and helping out where I could,” Beyoncé said. “I used to listen carefully to her conversations. It was a sacred space for these women.”

As for her own hair, the interviewer asked about that time in 2013 when Beyoncé boldly chopped off all of her signature long blonde hair into a pixie cut after giving birth to Blue Ivy the previous year. Recalling that moment in her life, Beyoncé said that she loves “how we associate a certain hairstyle with moments in our lives, like that moment with the short hair.”

“I remember the day I decided to cut all my hair,” he said. “I didn’t have a particular style in mind. It was not an aesthetic choice, but it was an emotional transformation and a very big metamorphosis that I was going through.”

Beyoncé continued: “A lot of my identity as a performer has been around my hair down. Cutting my hair was me rebelling against being the woman society believes I should be. I was a new mother and something about the liberation of being a mother made me want to get rid of all that. It was a physical representation of me shedding the expectations placed on me. “I just wanted to take it off.”

Not only did the decision mark a change in her appearance and aesthetic, but Beyoncé attributes the moment to her becoming “super brave.”

“It was the first step to many bolder decisions I have made in my life and career that have led me to who I am today,” he said.