Jada blasts Willow hair critics: It's her choice

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith has a message for those who think her 12-year-old daughter, "Whip My Hair back and forth" sensation Willow Smith, shouldn’t be allowed to wear her hair any way she chooses.

“Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be,” the actress said in a Facebook post that has spurred debate about parental rights.

Pinkett Smith felt compelled to answer (“This subject is old but I have never answered it in its entirety”), given the severe Internet lashings her daughter has gotten over the past year for her fashionable...er, choices. Indeed, Willow's hair, which is on display to millions of teen girls, has been shades of gray, green and in between! 

Still, Pinkett Smith said the very question was offensive.

“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," she said on her account.

"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."

Well said, Mrs. Pinkett Smith, but what about you other parents out there? HLN readers, should your tweens and teens have full control of their dress and grooming -- or is a little parental help/inspection par for the course?