Now White Women Are Copying Black Women’s Bonnet Wearing, And the Whole Thing Has TikTok Sharply Divided

To wear the bonnet or not to wear the bonnet? That is the question.

Thereโ€™s a new TikTok trend going viral on the video sharing app and its got the internet in a complete frenzy. Itโ€™s the โ€œmorning shed routineโ€ trend, where content creators post how they get ready for the day, โ€œsheddingโ€ their beauty and skincare products they wore throughout the night.

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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
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The accessories include skin masks, chin straps that supposedly help reduce the appearance of a double chin, lip masks, hair rods for flawless, overnight heatless curls, and... bonnets.

The vast majority of the creators posting their bonnet-wearing videos are white. From silk pink bonnets to sky blue to jet black, its hard for some not to notice the bonnet worn on non-Black women.

Take a look for yourself.

The captions often include hashtags #morningshed, #bonnet, #selfcareroutine, and #glowuptips, and have gone viral with the ultimate question: Should non-Black women wear bonnets?

The Neighborhood Talk reposted a screenshot of one of the TikTok videos from a white creator wearing a bonnet on March 18, and the comment section boasted varying opinions.

One Instagram user wrote, โ€œI think itโ€™s funny and cute. Just let em do it. At this point we have bigger fish to fry,โ€ while another declared, โ€œThey are for hair care not to look as if your another race go touch some grass.โ€

Others were convinced white women wearing bonnets didnโ€™t even matter because their โ€œHair [is] too silky anyway itโ€™s just gonna fall off.โ€ Another added how โ€œBonnets are good for all hair. It prevents breakage for everyone...men, women, white, Black, Hispanic, Asian, everyone,โ€ while a fourth follower penned: โ€œYou hate that a women is protecting her hair while she sleeps?? Thatโ€™s what Silk bonnets/pillowcases are for but ok.โ€

Others were less enthusiastic about the new trend, including one user who wrote: โ€œItโ€™s for black women.โ€

โ€œStupid take if itโ€™s a black owned bonnet business,โ€ another viewer exclaimed. โ€œThe goal would be for everyone to buy your product and even create new global trends that are profitable for your family if not your community. Stupid thing to try to gate keep. But go awf.โ€

This isnโ€™t the first time the topic of bonnets sparked online conversations.

Back in 2021, comedian Moโ€™Nique shared a PSA to Black women who wore bonnets out in public. The โ€œPreciousโ€ actress spoke out against the practice suggesting that wearing a bonnet in public could indicate a lack of pride.

โ€œIโ€™ve been seeing it not just at the airport. Iโ€™ve been seeing it at the store, at the mallโ€ฆ When did we lose our pride in representing ourselves,โ€ she asked in an Instagram video. โ€œWhen did we slip away of let me make sure Iโ€™m presentable when I leave my home?โ€

She even asked her 1.7 million followers, โ€œCould you please comb your hair? Iโ€™m not saying you donโ€™t have pride but the representation that youโ€™re showing someone will have to ask you to know if you have it. Itโ€™s not to get a manโ€ฆ it is just your representation of you, my sweet babies.โ€

https://twitter.com/ihrtaida/status/1811242512184385857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The conversation represents a much deeper issue, of how Black women are often called out and stereotyped for wearing a bonnet, while white women are usually not held to the same standard.

Entrepreneur Sarah Marantz Lindenberg claims she โ€œcame up with the ideaโ€ of a โ€œwashable silk head wrapโ€ that prevents breakouts and preserve hairstyles to Fashion Magazine, The Root previously reported.

Lindenberg, who founded the company NiteCap, said her โ€œconcept came out of a problem that needed solving.โ€ NiteCap sells the so-called โ€œinventionโ€ that was already being used by millions of Black women every day.

Although the actual origins of the bonnet are unclear, according to Crownedโ€™s researchers, bonnets go back to the mid-1800s when European women wore them at night for warmth. โ€œHeadwraps were also traditional attire in African regions, like Ghana and Namibia, where people referred to them as dukus and doek, respectively,โ€ Byrdie reported. โ€œDuring enslavement, headwraps and bonnets were weaponized. They were used to visibly distinguish Black women as lesser or even subhuman,โ€ the siteโ€™s editor Star Donaldson wrote.

Lindenberg sells her bonnets for... $98.

Straight From The Root

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