Justin Bieber has shaved his hair after being accused of cultural appropriation for a style resembling locs

• Justin Bieber shaved his hair after facing criticism for a style resembling locs in April.
• Critics accused the singer of cultural appropriation and insensitivity on social media.
• Bieber responded to criticism over a similar style in 2016, saying: "It's just my hair."

Justin Bieber has shaved his hair off after being accused of cultural appropriation.

The singer, 27, was criticized for wearing cornrows and locs in 2016, and again for wearing a style resembling locs in April of this year. While locs - sometimes called "dreadlocks" - have appeared in different cultures throughout history, they are closely associated with Black hair and culture and are therefore considered problematic for white people to wear.

Bieber debuted his shorter hair on Instagram on Monday, with a photo of himself and his wife Hailey.

Bieber didn't give any reason for the new look or comment on the recent criticism in his photo caption, which said: "Happy Sunday." Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Bieber doesn't appear to have publicly responded to accusations of cultural appropriation from critics of his selfies posted to Instagram, which showed him wearing a hairstyle that greatly resembled locs on April 25 and 26. Bieber posted 66 additional posts that showed him wearing the style into May.

Following the criticism, Bieber shared an Instagram post on April 26 with a message that said: "There's power in acknowledging our insecurities, WE ALL GOT EM." And in the caption, he wrote: "It's okay to have insecurities, open up and talk about them it's healthy."

It's unclear if this was in response to the accusations he faced over his hair.

When Bieber faced criticism over a similar hairstyle in 2016, he was recorded saying that "it's just my hair," as The Fader previously reported.

Following Bieber's comment at the time, Ebony's Josie Pickens wrote about why it's problematic for white people to wear traditionally Black hairstyles like locs.

"When the star spoke about his brand new and bleached blonde dreadlocks being 'just hair', I wondered if he observed that the Black people who made locs popular in the U.S. and throughout the African Diaspora were militants who hoped and worked to annihilate their White oppressors," Pickens wrote.

She later added: "It is maddening that White people love the culture that we produce so much [...] but seem ambivalent towards our suffering and what it costs to create such a gorgeous culture in the face [of] constant erasure and hate."

While male white celebrities like Bieber have worn traditionally Black hairstyles with little consequence, and even benefitted from doing so, Black people have often been punished for their hairstyles, or forced to change their hair.

For example, Nicole Pyles, a high-school softball player in Durham, North Carolina, had to cut her braids to remove beads from her hair during a game this April after the opponent's coach alerted the umpire, who said beads were not permitted in the rulebook, according to a CNN report.

And in 2018, Andrew Johnson, a student at a New Jersey high school, had inches of his locs cut during a wrestling match when he was told he wouldn't be allowed to compete without an appropriate hair covering, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.