Have you seen Beyoncé lately? Before I start, let me qualify what I'm about to say by stating that I've been obsessed with Beyoncé ever since Destiny's Child burst on to the scene. Not since Janet Jackson's Control have we had a black woman kicking mainstream ass quite so spectacularly.

So, it goes without saying I'm a fan of Ms Knowles, and in style terms she rarely puts a foot wrong, but surely I can't be the only person to be, well, just a tad disappointed with her new look. It's not that she doesn't look stunning, but ever since she's had her hair straightened and blond highlights put in she looks like every other female pop star. And I don't just mean the black ones. In fact, hold a picture of the new-look Beyoncé next to the usual suspects - Britney, Christina, et al - and there's not much difference.

Of course, it's not just black women who fall prey to the straight hair mafia. In fact, virtually all of my white friends whose hair isn't bone-straight spend a good deal of time either at the hairdresser or at home frying their locks with straightening tongs. Two close white friends have gorgeous corkscrew curls. Despite the fact that people actually stop them in the street to tell them how beautiful their hair is, each time they visit the hairdresser they're asked if they'd like their hair straightened? Why? Because curly hair suffers from a similar bad press to red hair. Both make people nervous, and are seen as threatening; both are associated with wild women, who need taming in some way. (Yawn.)

Beyoncé was so refreshing because she looked so different from all the other R&B starlets, and it's the curls that made her stand out (granted, the amazing thighs help, too). But Beyoncé without curls is like vodka without tonic. Actually, it's worse than that: it's like vodka with Slimline tonic. It sounds much the same, but what it really shows is an underlying insecurity - and if Beyoncé is insecure about her looks, what hope do the rest of us have?