Lupita Nyong'o calls out Grazia magazine for Photoshopping her natural hair

Yahoo Style UK team
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Nyong’o has criticised Grazia magazine for editing out her ‘native heritage’ [Photo: Getty]

Lupita Nyong’o is ‘disappointed’ with Grazia magazine for Photoshopping out her natural ‘kinky, coily’ hair on the November 2017 cover.

The actress stars in the publication’s latest shoot and on the cover, appears to sport a shaven head.

However, the 34-year-old took to Instagram to share unedited snaps of the original editorial which indicate that she was actually wearing a loose ponytail.

Inspired by Solange‘s hashtag #dtmh (‘Don’t Touch My Hair’), the actress took to Instagram to voice her disappointment in the publication for smoothening her hair ‘to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like’.

As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too. Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are. I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like. Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women's complexion, hair style and texture. #dtmh

A post shared by Lupita Nyong'o (@lupitanyongo) on Nov 9, 2017 at 6:11pm PST

The ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ actress wrote: “Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are.”

She continued, “Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture. #dtmh”

However, Lupita is not the first female celebrity to call out the fashion industry for manipulating cover images using Photoshop. A few weeks ago, Solange Knowles criticised Evening Standard magazine for removing a braid of her hair on the cover.

While Emily Ratajkowski recently called out a publication for editing her breasts and lips to make them appear smaller.

Hopefully, Lupita Nyong’o’s stance against the fashion industry will encourage the media circuit to break out of their unrealistic beauty ideals and appreciate women for who they are.


Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Model calls out fashion industry for ignoring black women’s natural hair

Movember is here: Vote for the best celebrity moustache

Bella Hadid and the supermodel set prove the scrunchie is back

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest Stories