From her teenage years starring alongside her twin sister Tamera on the hit 90s series Sister, Sister, Tia Mowry is opening up about the discrimination battles she faced over her hair. The actress admits it took time to appreciate and love her curls fully.
“When we were younger, it was wonderful being able to wear our natural hair. People were always like, “Oh, you’re so cute, we love your curls,” she remembered in an essay penned for ELLE’s state of Black Beauty package.
Compliments poured in as a child. In her teen years on Sister, Sister Mowry began feeling pressure to straighten her hair. “But as we went into adulthood, you could see that when we became teenagers in the show, we ended up straightening our hair. It was such a pivotal moment in the series because it was also a reflection of what was being pushed as “beautiful” in society,” she said, noting that the times she flat ironed her hair damaged my natural curls.”
The Family Reunion actress started to become insecure with her natural hair. “In this business, if I had my hair curly, I was told, “Can you pull your hair back?”
On auditions, I was told, “It’s distracting.” But I thank God that my Mom told us, “Do not allow this business to define you. Do not allow this business to define your value,” she stated. “I believe that’s what saved us from falling into the pit of childhood stardom.”
When Mowry got older and noticed other Black women embracing their beauty on social media platforms such as Instagram, she was inspired to do the same.
At the beginning of quarantine in April 2020, Mowry did the Big Chop and went all-natural on Instagram. She welcomed her textured coils, gray hair, and makeup-free skin in a beautiful selfie.
“it’s been me and my #fro as of lately. #hair #curlyhair #nofilter #nomakeup #me,” she captioned the gorgeous photo.
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Photo Credit: Tia Mowry [Courtesy of Anser]
