There’s a new TikTok trend going viral on the video sharing app and its got the internet in a complete frenzy. It’s the “morning shed routine” trend, where content creators post how they get ready for the day, “shedding” their beauty and skincare products they wore throughout the night.
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, “I think it’s funny and cute. Just let em do it. At this point we have bigger fish to fry,” while another declared, “They are for hair care not to look as if your another race go touch some grass.”
Others were convinced white women wearing bonnets didn’t even matter because their “Hair [is] too silky anyway it’s just gonna fall off.” Another added how “Bonnets are good for all hair. It prevents breakage for everyone...men, women, white, Black, Hispanic, Asian, everyone,” while a fourth follower penned: “You hate that a women is protecting her hair while she sleeps?? That’s what Silk bonnets/pillowcases are for but ok.”
Others were less enthusiastic about the new trend, including one user who wrote: “It’s for black women.”
“Stupid take if it’s a black owned bonnet business,” another viewer exclaimed. “The 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.”
This isn’t the first time the topic of bonnets sparked online conversations.
Back in 2021, comedian Mo’Nique shared a PSA to Black women who wore bonnets out in public. The “Precious” actress spoke out against the practice suggesting that wearing a bonnet in public could indicate a lack of pride.
“I’ve been seeing it not just at the airport. I’ve been seeing it at the store, at the mall… When did we lose our pride in representing ourselves,” she asked in an Instagram video. “When did we slip away of let me make sure I’m presentable when I leave my home?”
She even asked her 1.7 million followers, “Could you please comb your hair? I’m not saying you don’t have pride but the representation that you’re showing someone will have to ask you to know if you have it. It’s not to get a man… it is just your representation of you, my sweet babies.”
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 “came up with the idea” of a “washable silk head wrap” that prevents breakouts and preserve hairstyles to Fashion Magazine, The Root previously reported.
Lindenberg, who founded the company NiteCap, said her “concept came out of a problem that needed solving.” NiteCap sells the so-called “invention” that was already being used by millions of Black women every day.
Although the actual origins of the bonnet are unclear, according to Crowned’s researchers, bonnets go back to the mid-1800s when European women wore them at night for warmth. “Headwraps were also traditional attire in African regions, like Ghana and Namibia, where people referred to them as dukus and doek, respectively,” Byrdie reported. “During enslavement, headwraps and bonnets were weaponized. They were used to visibly distinguish Black women as lesser or even subhuman,” the site’s editor Star Donaldson wrote.
Lindenberg sells her bonnets for... $98.