Nico Lang at Huff-Po applauds Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith for publicly defending their decision to “let” their daughter Willow to do whatever-the-eff-she-wants with her own hair (because it’s her own body).

Cool mom Jada Pinkett Smith recently released the following statement, in response to critics who question why she would “let” her daughter make her own hairstyle choices:

The question why I would let Willow cut her hair. First, the let must be challenged. This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don’t belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit and her mind are her domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It’s also a statement that claims that even little girls have the right to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother’s deepest insecurities, hopes and desires. Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be.  

In his post, Nico Lang brings up the Parade Magazine interview (back in May) when cool dad Will Smith said:

We let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it’s like how can you teach her that you’re in control of her body? If I teach her that I’m in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she’s going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world.

This family gets it.