When Simone Biles isn’t dominating the gymnastics world with her awe-inspiring performances, she’s giving fans a front-row seat to her beauty regimen, sharing the hair and makeup secrets that keep her looking fierce both on and off the mat. As K18 Hair’s new brand ambassador, the gymnast reflected on her personal journey with her hair.
“When I was younger, I was in braids, beads, berets, all of that stuff,” Biles told People magazine, recalling feeling like her naturally thick coarse hair was “unmanageable.” “So, I started [relaxing] it, because that’s how every girl’s hair looked, and I wanted to look like all the other girls. Everyone went through that phase where if it’s not relaxed, it’s not right.”
Despite comparing her hair texture to others’, Biles eventually embarked on a natural hair journey, learning to love and care for her kinky-coily tresses. Highlighting products like the K18 hair oil, the gold medalist explained how protective styles and proper hair care helped improve her relationship with her hair.
“Now I’ve been natural for so many years and I don’t really care what people say,” she explained. “Who cares what my hair looks like?”
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Since the start of her career, Biles has been targeted by social media critics who have scrutinized the way the world-renowned athlete styles her hair. So much so, that when a picture surfaced of her in a messy bun with flyaways and frizzy edges at the 2024 Paris Olympic Village, she anticipated the critical commentary.
“We were on the bus and it was 97 degrees, and we were sweating bullets,” she said. “I’d just freshly pressed out my edges, and I was like, ‘Oh God, I just know they’re going to want to start with my hair, so I’m going to set the record straight.’”
“I don’t really care if my edges aren’t smooth,” she added at the time, as previously reported by theGrio. “I used to worry about [my hair being considered] not professional. But I’m not embarrassed about it anymore.”
In addition to remaining unbothered about the state of her edges, Biles, like many Olympians, often has to be her own hairstylist and makeup artist during the international competition. So in addition to finding hairstyles that can withstand her gravity-defying flips, the Team USA gymnast needs a makeup routine as flawless as her floor routine. Recently, on TikTok, she shared her secret to her sweat-resistant makeup: two setting sprays and one potentially unconventional final step.
“I don’t even know if you’re supposed to do this after, but I like to make sure it’s extra-matte,” she revealed in the video. “So I go in with my powder after.”
Ultimately, Biles says she cares more about her performance than her appearance when stepping into the spotlight.
“Whenever I’m [competing], I know my hair is crazy. My gymnastics, clean; hair, messy,” she added. “[Even if] my hair is all over the place, I’m still performing because that’s not what I’m worried about when I’m on a world stage. And if you don’t like it, you don’t like it.”
Though hateful comments mostly roll off her shoulders these days, she admits it’s disheartening to see how much backlash she gets from other Black people about her hair.
“We know how hard and how annoying and irritating that is, so why would you go and comment on another girl?” she told the publication. “It’s beyond me, but it doesn’t really bother me like it did whenever I was younger because I know when I need to pop out and look right, then I’m going to look right.”
“We don’t have to look like everybody else,” she reminded critics. “Next time you want to comment on a Black girl’s hair, just don’t.”
