Benny Harlem is a Los Angeles father, singer and model who became an internet favourite in 2016 thanks to photos with his young daughter, Jaxyn. Both wear their naturally textured hair big, proud and uncombed into conventional shapes, and the pictures, shot on beaches, city streets and against painted walls, spread far beyond Instagram. Jaxyn was about six when the photos went viral.
What kept people following was not only the hair. Harlem paired the photos with short reflections on fatherhood: teaching his daughter to respect herself, to love how she looks and to expect respect from others. For many Black parents in particular, the images offered something rare in mainstream media at the time: a father openly celebrating natural hair and his child's heritage.
The story had a sequel. In September 2017 Guinness World Records announced that Harlem held the record for the tallest high top fade, at 20.5 inches (52 cm), and noted that his daughter had inherited his hair. Below are the photos that started it, with a little context for each.
A father who calls parenting a privilege
Harlem holds Jaxyn close against a sun-bleached wall, both in black and both crowned with enormous curls. He captioned a photo like this with the thought that fatherhood is "a miracle and an honor", a line that summed up the tone of his whole feed. The matching outfits are deliberate: many of their shoots are styled as a pair.
On a grey beach, Jaxyn leans in to kiss her father's nose. Harlem wrote that what he cares about most is the strength of her character and that he teaches her to insist on being treated with respect. It is a theme he returns to again and again: confidence comes before looks.
Teaching self-love first
Father and daughter pose in front of a colourful mural, his hair spreading wider than his shoulders and hers framing her face like a cloud. Harlem's caption acknowledged that people call her beautiful, but said his priority is that she learns to love herself before anyone else's opinion counts. For a child growing up online, that is a pointed message.
At sunset on the sand, both wear warm orange and red, with Harlem in a head wrap. His comment on this theme was practical: he cannot shield her from everything, so he wants to equip her to handle life herself. Child psychologists would recognise the idea; building resilience and self-worth is usually more protective than trying to control every risk.
Natural hair and heritage
Jaxyn wraps her arms around her father on the beach, beaming. Harlem described himself here as his daughter's keeper, borrowing the old phrase about being responsible for those you love. The image is one of the most shared from the series, partly because it is so plainly joyful.
The photos landed at a moment when the natural hair movement was gaining ground. Black girls and women in the US had long faced pressure, sometimes formal school or workplace rules, to straighten or hide textured hair. That pressure later led several US states, starting with California in 2019, to pass CROWN Act laws banning discrimination based on natural hairstyles.
Here Harlem wears his record-style high top, a towering, sharply shaped column of hair, along with a mustard suit, while Jaxyn holds a doll beside an old Beverly Hills sign. He wrote that he places his child on a pedestal so she learns that love starts with loving herself. The contrast between his sculpted fade and her loose curls shows how varied natural styles can be.
Growing together
Dressed in black leather, gold chains and caps, the pair stand against a white wall, Jaxyn tucked in front of her dad. Harlem compared children to seeds that grow upward when they are watered and fed, and called his daughter his sunlight. It is one of the more stylised shots, closer to a fashion editorial than a family snapshot.
In a soft, faded beach portrait, Jaxyn cups her father's face as they touch noses. His caption turned the lesson around: parents keep growing, he wrote, when they pay attention to their children. It is a fitting final image, since the whole series is as much about what a father learns as what he teaches.
From viral photos to a world record
Guinness reported that Harlem sometimes spends up to two hours shaping and combing his hair, and that the family makes its own shampoos from natural ingredients such as coconut and berries. His stated aim, in Guinness's words, was to "inspire people of all cultures and backgrounds to embrace who they are". By then the viral photos had brought him hundreds of thousands of followers.
If you are caring for a child's natural hair, the basics are simple: gentle detangling, moisture, low-tension styles and patience. If there is scalp irritation or hair loss, talk to a doctor.
Sources: Guinness World Records (14 September 2017); Benny Harlem on Instagram; Benny Harlem on Twitter; Bored Panda. Photos: Benny Harlem / Instagram.
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