Preach, Sis!: Tia Mowry Writes A Beautiful Essay About The Importance Of Embracing Gray Hair
It’s been a joy to watch Tia Mowry's journey over the years! Whether it’s watching her on our favorite TV shows, getting fashion inspiration from her fabulous TikTok videos, or getting dinner ideas from her cooking show, we can’t help but cheer loudly for The Game actress. Another thing we appreciate about the Sister Sister star is her innate ability to be transparent and vulnerable.
The star recently penned an essay for InStyle detailing her unique relationship with her hair. "Growing up, there were just no visuals or representation of someone who looked like me — Black girl with curly hair. All I saw being showcased was blonde, straight hair, blue eyes, white skin. And there was little to no visibility for women of a certain age," Mowry shares.
The mom of two questioned, “Why are we trying to diminish or suppress the beauty and the blessing of getting older? I want to change the narrative, and that's why I show off my hair the way it is."
As a child, Mowry says she was surrounded by European beauty standards, especially growing up in the entertainment industry.
“I would go out on an audition with my hair curly, and I was told that it was a distraction," she explained about her experience after the hit show Sister Sister went off the air. "Of course, with that coming from a casting director, it encourages insecurities.”
She went on to say, “That negative relationship with my hair went on for a very long time, until Instagram hit the scene in the 2010s. I started to see more girls like me. Meaning, there was this amazing community of curly girls, and just Black women celebrating all the various textures and colors of their hair at every age. It changed my perspective on what beauty actually was and how it could be defined.”
Today, Mowry is on a mission to celebrate her natural beauty in every way. “The relationship that I had with myself growing up is definitely not the relationship that I have with myself now," she expressed. "Before, there were insecurities and the need to try to conform. Now, it's a celebration — I am celebrating my uniqueness, I am celebrating who I am at every stage of my life."
That includes embracing her gray hair, which she says she first noticed at the end of her 20s. "My gray hair really started to come in heavy when I turned 40," she shared. "I wasn't alarmed either time. One thing that I credit my parents with is they've always taught me how to just be myself at every stage of my life. And I've always had this perspective that it is a blessing to get old."
Her advice for others experiencing a hair transformation is simple: embrace your gray hair because it is a blessing.
She explained, “There are so many people on a daily basis that are not making it to the age where their hair starts to gray. And so when I see my gray hair, it actually is a blessing because it means that, yes, I'm getting older and I'm still here. I don't take that lightly — I really, really don't.”
This essay is full of gems! We especially love this quote, “Beauty is confidence, beauty is feeling good about yourself, beauty is embracing all of your flaws, and beauty is aging.”
Preach, sis!
