When an individual has extreme talent,record company will cheap cirque du soleil tickets do anything to sell them to the most sum of people.

Women are women ..end off..have been for eons....i personally dont give a four xxx..and think it is a waste of time and energy..it is a trend ....if yer know what the hell yer are..why worry??.....i am more concerned at the self hatred of young Black men and women who are murdered...by members of the same community...i am appalled..by those in the community who shield those yobs..then complain that nothing is being done by the Police....to solve these crimes...A Black Man is the President of the Free World...which means ...we as a race ..can be whgo the hell we choose..no sky is the limit...we have earned the right...or is this still not enough????....

Bloody hell is she black?? I thought she was latina.

I wish I could wear my natural afro, but i can't due to alopecia and I look like am dying with a bald head!!
So yes, I wear a wig and am very open to everyone that I wear a wig.
People need to find out why some black women wear wigs before they comment!

This lightenening thing has really gotten out of hand now, its same this african lady who lightened her skin and burnt it up has used herself as an example to people how to love and be comfortable in the the skin that you're in you can google her she is Tinu Oginni.

They've also been bleaching for decades in barbados!! on the 2 of june the barbados press had was to issue a health and hazard warning about the dangers of bleaching cream and a popular cream marked on the jar SUPER BLEACHING CREAM!

Some bajans even go as far as bleaching their anal.

In Trinidad & Tobago they're not warning anyone they're just advertising skin bleaching clinics.

Its happening all over asia and the caribbean.

SIC!

There are much we don't like about ourselves as black women and we will go to extremes to change it. Our skin tone, our nose but mostly our hair. To be honest, I am happy with my medium dark skin colour and nose, but my hair, oh Lordy, it needs some work to make it look as naturally appealing as possible. I chemically relax my hair to make it more managable. I have used hot comb in my younger years to accomplish the same result. If that makes me less a black woman, then I'm guilty. I don't fancy wearing cornrows, dreads, plaits or a 'fro, at least at this moment in time. If afro was back in style I would totally rock it.

In the 70's, afro was a hot style, the bigger the better. But that hair style has come and gone for now. I just told a friend last week, black women have so much diversity with our hair type. We can process it and wear it flat, curly, waving, crinkled, in a 'fro, in a bun( on side, top or back), braided, dreaded and more, yet we feel the need to wear a massive amount of somebody else's hair.

I support black women who want to improve on their looks, but sometimes you go too far and almost lose your identity as a black woman. You all wear too much weave, wigs and braids. You really don't need it to be beautiful. Don't define yourself by your weave, define yourself by the true beauty you possess within and how else your adorn yourself using head scarves, earrings, bangles etc. Your fake hair should be a small extention of who you are. I like to admire my black sisters, but when I see all that weave and wig, it subtracts from the beauty of you. Some of you wear some weave to achieve a certain short style, which is usually in good taste.

Go easy on the false hair and heavy on the smiles and charm.

Black women and men have being changing their hairstyles and looks just like any other cultural peoples of the world...Beyonce is Afro American...where material wealth and metocratic in complexity...your looks could be the difference between getting the job and not especially in the media music industry. There is a good and bad side, the showing of Black sexuality just draws the guys in to realizing (after being bombarded with imagry of non-Black females as beautiful, and Black females not) that Black famales have got just as much va va voom..I don't think images of Whoopi Goldberg has the same effect...lol

This site is like a classroom, execpt I don't hate it. lol

My looooord!! This paper is pure jokes!!

This article is racist nonsense!!! many young people have unrealistic expectations of looking like the celebritys they admire (not just shayquan and sheniqua)regardless of colour.The media constantly bombard us with artificial,computer generated,idealised images of supposedly human perfection and then to complain she doesnt look "natural"!!! what rank hypocrisy!!!
What is the medias obsession with her skin tone?? my daughter is mixed race with a similar complexion and she too has had this kind of crap all her life!! small minded people trying to force her to identify with one group or another because of her skin colour!!
im quite shocked at the obvious agenda espoused here,hardly the voice of reason,this is biased,provocative rubbish!!

Jesus christ, are we really all THAT shallow? Beyonce was still classed as a black woman the last time I looked. I don't think white people are really bothered about claiming her, so lets all stop worrying. Pathetic article.

~It is horrid that black woman are still scared of their natural african hair ~ white girls now are crimping their hair for the kink and we are putting our self forward for self inflicted alopecia ~ ... when black woman see me they hate my Raw Natural Beauty white ladies grab their husbands .. its not fair ~ if these woman really new how powerful and rich we would be if we all as woman loved ourselves 1000% like i do ~ our communities would be ABUNDANT mentally and financially ~ to hell with the unbWeavable image of us Black woman ~ when CJ walker invented the hot comb that is what she did just invented something to make our hair more stylishly feasible for the systematic time schedule of the western world not ~ to walk around with self inflicted alopecia ~ i get so embarrassed when i see weave headed woman its like shall i laugh at you because after all {YOU ALL BLOODY HATE YOURSELF AND SUFFER FROM BODY DISCRIMINATION} and i will rather let my son marry a blond real eurpoean than a mentally sick african with blonde hair ~ cherylin gordon

How many of you people who found the time to comment about this story found the time to write a comment about how Negus Mclean a 15 year old back boy was hunted down by 7 black youths and killed in front of his brother?

How many of you who commented on this story wrote a comment about ,Agnes Sina-Inakoju, the 16 year old black girl who was shot to death because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time?

How many of you who commented on this story wrote a comment about the 5 year old Sri Lankan girl who was in a shop whilst 3 black boys rushed in and shot indiscriminately and a stray bullet hit her leaving her paralyzed?

How many of you who wrote a comment on this story
wrote a comment about the murder of a young black16-year-old by the name of Yemurai Kanyangarara who was stabbed to death by....surprise,surprise a group of black boys.

The simple answer is None of you!

You are all more concerned about rappers and weaves-ons, than you are about innocent black people being slaughtered by black wannabee UK Jamaican gangstars .Yes , UK born JAMAICAN wannabee gangstars because they are they ones who in the main ( Not people from the islands of Barbados,Dominica, St.Kits, St.Lucia, St.Vincent, Antigua) etc who are responsible for killing innocent black youngsters than white people. However you see no evil , hear no evil or talk no evil because you're more concerned with the culture of celebrity than getting the black human rats off the streets of London.
SHAME ON YOU!!!!

It seems that people forget that beyonce is extremely talented ,instead they always concentrate on her looks.
When an individual has extreme talent,record companies will do anything to sell them to the maximum amount of people.
Even the notorious Big was wearing make up and fly wall street type suits when he was hot,hot,hot.
people should leave bey alone.

This is complete inflammatory nonsense.

Yes there is a legitimate debate to be had about the favour bestowed on lighter skinned black people generally (from within the black community as much as out side of it....) but this article is nonsense.

To say: "Many young black women have unrealistic expectations of looking like the superstar singer" is complete and utter nonsense.

Thats assuming that 'black' looks one way and one way only. Its ridiculous to blame Beyonce for her genes any more than it is to blame Wesley Snipes for his.

To suggest that Beyonce is somehow responsible for black womens' unrealistic expectations is so idiotic.

The truth is that the black press would prefer to talk about Beyonce and demonise her simply because talking about her sells papers/attracts extra interest. This is the height of hypocrisy.

The debate about light skin vs dark skin is one to have within the context of the western world in general - it is not fair to single out one successful person and use her as a scapegoat for all of the ills (and also ill-behaviour!) suffered by black people in general and darker skinned black people in particular.

Lets raise the game eh, The Voice?

Yeah but, Its cosmetic innit. She can do what she wants and as for betraying black folk, why, Coz she wants to sell more records? I'm black and Beyonce aint betraying me. I sell other stuff. Like Cartel said, them folk entertain. They entertainers, like clowns almost. Let them clown about with their looks if they want. Thats up to them.
Teach your kids not to worship what they see on TV and they will be OK. Girls don't run the world either Bey... sorry!

Some interesting points, but this piece was all over the place. Firstly, Bey is not the first black woman to straighten her hair (or her nose) or go blonde. That's been going on for YEARS.

Secondly, black women are more affluent and visible - why shouldn't we spend our money getting things done and fixed, like white women feel entitled to?

Thirdly, Beyonce no more represents me than 'the average Sheniqua' does.

Fourth, we KNOW these people represent some arbitrary ideal of perfection. Humans will always chase after what they cannot have - this is why you see so many women wearing ill-advised wigs and weaves.

Fifth, I'd agree that we need to see more brown and dark women held up as beauty icons. We know we're beautiful in all colours, so we need to support those who look like us. We can't all look like Beyonce or Cassie; the Kellys and the Jennifers and the Alek Weks represent us too.

Dark, brown, fair, natural and weavalicious - this is what black women are today, so yes. Let's widen the beauty standards a bit.

Its each to their own I suppose if Nicki. M wants to rock her hair they she does and beyonce wants to go blond then let them, but I aint seen either one rock a natural look yet! As for having surgery to alter the look to a more european identity then, that's an issue of insecurity they need to deal with...sooner rather than later because I for one am up in all three of my sisters faces letting them know that their dark skin is blessed and beautiful, they don't need to look like any of those mentioned stars to get anywhere... with god they can go as far as they please!..forshame, forshame!

Why should Beyonce's idea of beauty be a betrayal of black women? If it is, any idea of "beauty" as prescribed by fashion trends and the collective need for many to dance to the tune of consumerism, is a betrayal too. Why is it a betrayal of black women? It is if all you do is obsess about race. Millions of people go through each day unaware of race, as defined by the peurile obsessive who sees nothing but colour as yardstick for defining identity- like this journalist. Judge people on the basis of much more important criteria. Beyonce's betrayal is to herself you halfwit!

It is the return of the 'paperbag' and 'pencil test' as far black women in the popular music worldis concerned. The mulatto reigns supreme.
Ironically it was the whitepress which made black models such as Naomi Simms acceptable and in the worl of cllassical music, the abilities if the women rsther than hercomplexion count. Among the current superstars are the opera singers Jessye Norman, Denyce Graves, Barbara Hendrix et al.

Ironically in opera an art form favoured by upper ckasswhites, the major female superstar are black, Jessye Norman, Grace Bumbry, Deneyce Graves, Barbara Hendricks et al