Beyoncé explains why she 'cut all my hair off' in 2013: 'I became super brave'

Beyoncé is looking back on the "short-hair moment" that changed her career.

The Grammy-winning superstar appears on the March/April cover of Essence and chatted with the magazine about Cécred, her new hair care line that launches Feb. 20. In the interview, she reflected on a particularly significant hairstyle choice: when she surprised fans by debuting a pixie cut in 2013.

"I remember the day I decided to just cut all my hair off," she shared. "I didn't have a particular style in mind. It wasn't an aesthetic choice, but it was a very big emotional transformation and metamorphosis that I was going through. So much of my identity as a performer has been connected to flowing hair. Cutting my hair off was me rebelling against being this woman that society thinks I’m supposed to be."

Beyoncé revealed her short hair on Instagram in August 2013. She was a relatively new mom at the time, having welcomed her first child, Blue Ivy, with husband Jay-Z in January 2012.

Speaking with Essence, Beyoncé said that "something about the liberation of becoming a mother" made her want to "just shed all of that" and cut her hair, so she "just got the scissors and chopped it off."

"It was a physical representation of me shedding the expectations put upon me," she said. "I just wanted it off."

Beyoncé also reflected that after this decision, which had her hairstylist "freaking out," she "became super brave," so it was the "first step to many more audacious decisions I made in my life and my career that have led to who I am now."

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Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles, also posed in photos for Essence. Knowles owned a hair salon when the singer was growing up, and when Beyoncé teased her hair care venture in May 2023, she noted that her girl group Destiny's Child got their start performing for her mom's clients.

"I was exposed to so many different kinds of entrepreneurial women in her salon," she wrote on Instagram. "I saw firsthand how the ways we nurture and celebrate hair can directly impact our souls. I watched her heal and be of service to so many women. Having learned so much on my hair journey, I've always dreamed of carrying on her legacy."

In particular, Beyoncé told Essence that one of her mother's clients was an opera singer, and "I distinctly remember telling my mom that I wanted to be just like her client." She said she's been discussing a hair care line with her mom since her teens.

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"She’s a visionary and a brilliant woman and has worked so hard on this brand alongside me," Beyoncé said of Tina Knowles. "She’s such a gift, and this is a bit surreal for me that it is finally here."

Beyoncé is coming off the release of her latest songs, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages." After revealing in a Super Bowl ad that she has new music on the way, she confirmed that the second act of "Renaissance," which apparently has a country theme, will debut March 29.