White Father Receives Backlash After Asking Advice On Black Newborn’s Hair Care

Last month, a caucasian father named Will found himself in hot water with “Black TikTok” after posting a video of him brushing his Black adopted newborn daughter’s hair. In the since-deleted, now-circulating video, the dad asked for advice on caring for the texture of the newest addition to his family’s hair.

The video sparked a debate amongst social media, as some were proud of the father inquiring and others claimed he was using the baby girl as a “prop.”

“I am hoping to get this TikTok over to Black TikTok and any Black parents,” he began. “We have adopted a Black baby, her name is Zoë, and I don’t know what to do for her hair. I have this little brush, I have something from Shea Moisture. I really don’t know what to use so please, any Black parents or anyone who knows what to do with Black children’s hair, please help me in the comments. Thank you.”

Since the video’s publishing, social media has discussed implications of transracial adoption, with some believing that the White father and his husband adopted Zoë for clout. Others questioned why the couple didn’t consider the factors that comes with raising a Black child as non-Black parents.

After receiving a heap of backlash, Will stated to NBC News that he was regretful of the way he exposed his daughter to the world.

“I could have the best intentions and still mess up,” he said. “I’ve learned that I need to be very intentional about the community that surrounds us and her on a consistent basis and have people who look like her talk to her. I want Zoë to grow up to love herself. That includes her personality, her skin color, her hair, everything.”

“People said I viewed her as a prop or accessory and not a human being, and that’s not the case at all,” He added. “That’s not how I view my daughter at all.”

However that didn’t stop social media trolls from creating videos with think pieces on the topic or recreating their own.

Take a look at a comedic stitched video below.