A beauty pageant in Africa is making waves by banning lacefront wigs and mandating natural hair among its contestants.
The Miss Cote d’Ivoire 2025 beauty pageant in West Africa has officially banned the use of hair weaves, wigs, and hair extensions.
Cote d’Ivoire is the first pageant in the world to mandate natural hair.
The mandate to wear natural hairstyles was announced on January 28. Pageant officials asked contestants to embrace their natural hair. The natural styles can be long, short or shaved.
Victor Yapobi, president of the organizing committee, said something had to be done about the weave pandemic. He referenced past contestants at the Miss Universe pageant that wore short natural hair.
The mandate has drawn mixed reactions from Americans who praised Africans for setting new beauty standards. But others complain that the new mandate is meant to oppress Black women.
The hair extensions trend was popularized in the Black community in the 1970s when American singer Patrice Rushen wore hair extensions and beads on the cover of her 1979 album, Pizzazz.
Then music icon Stevie Wonder rocked braid extensions and beads on the cover of his first platinum-selling album, Hotter Than July, in 1980.
The hair extensions style went viral and Black women began requesting the hairstyle in beauty salons.
Now weaves and extensions are the dominant hairstyle in America, worn by nearly 90% of Black women and 5% of Black men.
The late manosphere leader Kevin Samuels criticized hair weaves and wigs in a new video on his YouTube channel (below).
