Melanie “Mel B” Brown talks about her hair journey.
The 49-year-old Spice Girls student wrote a heartfelt post on Instagram about being proud of her “big wild curly hair”, despite the pressure to straighten it during her pop star days.
“On the first video shoot I did as a Spice Girl for ‘Wannabe,’ the stylists took one look at my hair and told me I had to straighten it,” she wrote in the description alongside a photo of herself in a plaid shirt. “My big hair didn’t fit the mold of a pop star. But I stood my ground – with the support of my girlfriends – and I sang and danced like me with my big hair, brown skin and I was completely proud of who I was.”
In the video for the 1996 hit song, Brown, who was known in the group as “Scary Spice,” wore a lime green cropped tank top and patterned pants, her signature dark curly hair on display.
Mel B 1996.
Tim Roney/Getty
“I had no idea the impact that video had on thousands of little brown and black girls across the country,” Brown continued in the post, which was released in honor of World Afro Day on Sept. 10. “Women still come to me to this day and tell me they stopped straightening their hair.”
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The singer also recalled being bullied as a child because of her hair, saying she was “singled out” because she was “different”.
“But it was my hair and I wasn’t going to change it — for anyone,” she said.
Brown later reflected on the significance of her curly hair in relation to her daughters.
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Mel B with daughters Madison and Phoenix in 2022. Dave Bennett/Getty
“I have three children with big curly hair and they are all proud of their hair, their identity and their culture,” she said. “I also know that sometimes they have had problems with their hair – like I have. We are who we are and no one should try to discriminate or change us.” Never miss a story – sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Brown welcomed her first child, daughter Phoenix, with dancer Jimmy Gulzar in 1999. A second daughter, Angel, was born in 2007. (Angel shares with ex Eddie Murphy.) Four years later, the singer’s third daughter, Madison Brown, was born to her then-husband Stephen Belafonte.
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Source: HIS Education