1Blessed Natural Mag

1BlessedNatural: Amandla Stenberg Big Chops for Role and Goes Blonde! (photo cred: Instagram) Hunger Games star, Amandla Stenberg has done a Big Chop and colored her hair blonde. The 18-year-old actress and activist shaved her head for her upcoming role in the movie Where Hands Touch with George MacKay. In the movie, plays the character Leyna. Where Hands Touch was directed by Amma Asante and focuses on biracial children during Nazi Germany. It is centered around the friendship that develops between George MacKay, a son's whose father was under Hitler's organization and Amandla Stenberg, a biracial girl. The film has been criticized by people who believe it's taking the focus away from the Holocaust. In a post on social media, Asante said her intention was to show how biracial relationships were viewed during Nazi Germany. The director also said she wanted to put a spotlight on children of color during that time period. In a statement to IndieWire , Asante sa...

1BlessedNatural: Amandla Stenberg Wears Grey Extension Braid-Out to Women in Film Awards (photo cred: Instagram ) Actress Amandla Stenberg turned heads with her grey extension braid-out on Tuesday at the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in Los Angeles. The 16-year-old's braided extensions were unraveled up until about 2 inches from her scalp and cut to her shoulders. I thought the style looked cute! It looked like she was preparing to take out her braids, but decided to rock them! I think this will definitely start a trend, especially among teens. Earlier this month, Stenberg, who is natural went with Jaden Smith to prom. She was also wearing her grey braids at that time, but they were waist length. It's good to see  a lot more Black actresses stepping out of the box when it comes to hairstyles on the red carpet. Zendaya Coleman's faux locs and Lupita Nyong'o cornrows are two examples. It's going to be interesting to see what other creative hairsty...

1BlessedNatural: My Views and Hunger Games' Amandla Stenberg's Cultural Appropriation Lesson Actress Amandla Stenberg of The Hunger Games movie teaches us a lesson on cultural appropriation in her video "Don't Cash Crop On My Cornrows." In an almost 4 1/2 minute segment, the 16-year-old breaks down the importance of hair, specifically cornrows in Black culture and hip hop. She continues by giving brief a history of the 2000s and the adoption of elements of Black culture by white music artists. Stenberg points to artists like Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus who  have publicly been said to use these elements in their videos, but are not fully aware or involved in the struggle of Blacks. I agree with Stenberg. I also believe that there is nothing wrong with borrowing things from other cultures like hairstyles, but there should be a respect for the culture. I have a problem when the same people who borrow also demean or look down on another culture or...