[Lifestyle] Tia Mowry & Gabrielle Union Share the 'Unapologetic Beauty' Lessons They're Passing Down to Their Daughters

[SliCeR]

For Black History Month, moms Gabrielle Union, Tia Mowry, and Vanessa Williams sat down with Elle to talk about the evolution of Black beauty. The stars shared the way Eurocentric beauty standards were imposed on them as girls, what Black beauty meant to them in the past, and what it means to them now as mothers of daughters. For Union, her journey to self-love didn’t begin until recently, especially when it came to her hair. “I wore relaxers starting from the time I was 8 and didn’t stop until my thirties,” she said. “I didn’t even wear braids professionally, which might’ve been the first time ever really — until Almost Christmas, which was five or six years ago.” Once Union turned 40, she said something changed. “Something happened around my 40s, where I just fell in love with myself,” she said. “I emptied my basket of [CENSORED]s. And that’s the attitude I hope to pass onto my daughters — shameless self-love.” “When we were younger, it was wonderful being able to wear our natural hair,” she said, but as she and her twin sister Tamera grew up, they started to face discrimination around those same natural hairstyles. Mowry said she was often directed to conform to the whitewashed beauty standards of pin-straight hair during auditions, and was asked to pull her natural hair back because it was seen as a “distraction.” “When I straightened my hair, it damaged my hair and it damaged my natural curls,” she said. “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 happiness. Do not allow this business to define your value.’ I believe that’s what saved us from falling into the pit of childhood stardom.” “When we were younger, it was wonderful being able to wear our natural hair,” she said, but as she and her twin sister Tamera grew up, they started to face discrimination around those same natural hairstyles. Mowry said she was often directed to conform to the whitewashed beauty standards of pin-straight hair during auditions, and was asked to pull her natural hair back because it was seen as a “distraction.” “When I straightened my hair, it damaged my hair and it damaged my natural curls,” she said. “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 happiness. Do not allow this business to define your value.’ I believe that’s what saved us from falling into the pit of childhood stardom.”