Justin Bieber shaves his head following backlash over dreadlocks

Justin Bieber has finally shaved his head following continuous backlash over his matted locks. However, his Instagram posts suggest that the accusations of cultural appropriation had nothing to do with his decision to change his hairstyle.

The pop star took to his Instagram account on Sunday to share a picture of his new buzz cut. "Happy Sunday," he wrote alongside the selfie which showed him enjoying an al fresco meal with his wife Hailey Bieber. He also shared a monochrome selfie on his Instagram stories, that showed him moving his hand through his trimmed hair.

The musician had recently been sporting dreadlocks, even though he had sparked controversy for wearing the hairstyle in 2016. He also shared several pictures and videos in his matted locks, captioning one of them: "Being weird is fun. If u r not weird I don't like you."

However, not everyone agreed with his new hairstyle, and several accused him of being ignorant towards its uncomfortable history once again. "I absolutely adore you! But it is really, really important you understand why dreads are not something you should be doing as a cis white man with incredible privilege," a fan wrote.

Stephanie Cohen, co-founder of a natural hair organisation named the "Halo Collective," said the Grammy-winner had "no right" to wear the hairstyle, explaining: "I'm angry because this standard does not exist when a black person simply wears their hair in this way. You can't just wear something so historically significant and ignore the struggles behind what the hairstyle purports."

Bieber has not responded to the criticism or issued any clarification, which doesn't come as a surprise since he had refused to accept any wrongdoing when he was embroiled in the same controversy around four years ago. At the time, he had jokingly said in an Instagram video, "'Dude you gonna do anything with your hair, or are you just gonna leave it like that, dude?' Yeah, some girl came up to me and she was like, 'I love you, Justin, but like, that's like my least favorite hairstyle of yours.'"