Supermodel Winnie Harlow Recalls Once Wanting “White Girl” Hair in the Early Days of Her Career

Internationally renowned supermodel Winnie Harlow is opening up about how she once wished she had a different hair texture early in her career.

The 27-year-old beauty spoke with PrettyLittleThing’s “Behind Closed Doors” podcast, where she chatted candidly about the struggle of not having Black hairstylists on various sets to do her hair. She says that she encountered stylists who were not well versed in handling “black hair,” which left her feeling self-conscious at times about her looks. The experiences left such a profound effect on her that she often wished she’d had the hair texture of her caucasian counterparts.

“I remember feeling I don’t wanna be white, but I wish I had white girl hair because I wanna look just as good as the white girls do, and I should be able to because no matter what race, you’re beautiful,” she explained. Harlow says she would often question the discrepancies between the Black model’s hairstyles and the white model’s hairstyles, which she stated always looked better.

“It’s because there’s no education with black hair and different textures,” she added.

Winnie Harlow has become a staple in the fashion industry since appearing on “America’s Next Top Model” in 2014. Though she has maintained that the series did not do much for her career, she has landed countless campaigns. In Spring 2019, she made history as Victoria’s Secret’s first model with vitiligo.