Tia Mowry Opens up About Discriminatory Comments She Got About Her Natural Hair on Auditions Over the Years

Tia Mowry is opening up about the discrimination she’s faced over her hair as a Black woman. The actress, who first found the spotlight with Sister, Sister in the ’90s alongside twin sister Tamera Mowry, wrote an essay for ELLE’s State of Black Beauty project in which she recalls her journey to love her curls even in the face of Hollywood prejudice.

“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,’” Mowry remembered of her initial days as a child actress. When she became a teenager on Sister, Sister, however, Mowry said she had pressure to straighten her hair, which ended up damaging her curls. “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.

She recalled becoming insecure about her curls, especially after comments made when she would wear her hair naturally. “In this business, if I had my hair curly, I was told, ‘Can you pull that back?’ On auditions, I was told, ‘It’s distracting,’” she explained. It was only when she got older and noticed other Black women flaunting their curls on social media that she decided she wanted to embark on that journey for herself.

“It ignited a fire in me. That led me to do my first big chop because I was ready to embrace and celebrate who I am and what my beauty is. I’ve been having that wonderful love affair ever since,” she said, adding of her perspective on beauty as a Black woman as a whole, “Black beauty to me is being unapologetic. It means strong. It means bold. It means confidence. It means beautiful. When you are a minority, you have to see the lack of diversity being pushed in beauty and you have to have those qualities of being unapologetic.”

When she was younger, Mowry said she had insecurities about who she was and where her place in the world was, but now she described herself as “very unapologetic.” She continued, “I’m like, “This is who I am. I love every part of me. I love the wrinkles that I have. I love my smile. I love my gray hair. I love every part of who I am.”