Gabrielle Union Once ‘Hated’ Her Natural Hair. Now, She Embraces Its ‘Strength and Diversity’
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Gabrielle Union opened up about learning to love her natural hair.
The actress said she “wasted so much” of her youth hating the way she looked.
Now, Union feels empowered by her natural texture and has embraced her curls as an example for her kids.
If you’ve been keeping up with Gabrielle Union on Instagram, you’ve likely noticed that the actress has been rocking her natural hair—and she looks stunning! She’s been confidently embracing her curls at home, during workouts, in work shoots, you name it—but in a new interview with People, the 48-year-old admits she didn’t always love the way she looked.
“When I was younger, I hated everything about [my hair]. I wanted it to be anything but what it was,” Union said. “I wasted so much of my youth in my twenties, thirties, and certainly my teens wanting to be someone else. I was inundated with images and messages saying, ‘You’re just not as pretty as so-and-so.’”
Union further explained that not seeing Black women represented in the media led her to believe she didn’t have what it takes to be successful. “The images that I saw on TV and in magazines and film reaffirmed what they were saying. That I wasn’t ‘it’, and people who look like me aren’t ‘it’,” she said. “You couldn’t possibly have that ‘it factor’ and have hair like mine or skin like mine.”
It wasn’t until her 40s that she learned to embrace her innate beauty. “In my early forties, I just emptied my basket of f*cks and came out reborn and loving myself in a way that you only see on Oprah episodes when you’re like, ‘What the hell is my most authentic self? What does that even mean? I don’t even know who that girl is. I wouldn’t know her if I saw her,’” she said.
A “deep dive” into therapy, doing “internal work,” and lots of traveling eventually led her to embrace that “beauty comes in every kind of form”—a lesson she’s trying to instill in her two-year-old daughter Kaavia and 13-year-old step-daughter Zaya. She even recently responded to online criticism that Kaavia’s natural curls are “never done.”
“Kaav is going to run around here during a pandemic after swim class and it’s going to be what it is,” she told Madamenoire. “You’ll see her natural curls. You’ll also see that they’re going to be moisturized. That’s more of what I care about, hair health, not the style.” In fact, setting an example for her kids is another big reason she decided to let her hair do its thing.
Now, Union adores her natural hair, and even feels empowered by it. “I marvel at my hair’s strength and all of the diversity of looks and styles that I can achieve. I can literally transform into anything. I can do it without a lot of heat. I’m doing it without relaxers. I’m doing it without having FOMO!” she said. (She hasn’t relaxed her tight curls since her 30s.)
Taking everything she’s learned over the years, she started her own haircare company, Flawless Curls by Gabrielle Union, which offers a wide range of products specifically designed for natural hair. “I used to think you had to have a certain hair texture in order to be seen as beautiful or dynamic. I don’t have that anymore,” she told People. “I love my own hair. Everything I want to achieve, everything I can dream of, I know I can do it with my own hair.”
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