Tyra Banks: My Natural Hair Almost Cost My Career

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Erica Barton

Erica Barton is a 33-year-old mother of three, a freelance writer, and a natural hair enthusiast. As a young woman, Erica has had long, straight, pretty hair for as long as she can remember. This, she achieved through flat irons, pressing combs, and other methods that she later realized were only damaging her hair. She had to make a drastic decision – letting go of the heat. Erica did her BiG Chop in the year 2015 and has been enjoying her healthier, thicker, natural, and unadulterated hair for three years now. Erica enjoys the versatility of natural hair, and the fact that she can wear different looks on a daily basis makes her free to enjoy life and celebrate both her inner and outer beauty. She, however, warns that going natural is not a walk in the park. There are days you will feel frustrated and even wish to give up. That’s why she has taken it upon herself to help people who wish to go down this road by sharing her personal journey, challenges, and offering tips where necessary. According to Erica, every woman has a right to wear their hair on their own terms and not as dictated by society.

Latest posts by Erica Barton (see all)

Top Tips for Dealing with Black Hair Discrimination - November 24, 2018
Tyra Banks: My Natural Hair Almost Cost My Career - November 17, 2018
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Tyra Banks: My Natural Hair Almost Caused My Career

From Tyra Bank’s Official Instagram Account (tyrabanks)

For years, there has been an outrage concerning the way women of color are sidelined in the beauty industry. The beauty market still continues to ignore a huge section of its market, for instance, many hair stylists don’t know how to work with natural hair and they rarely produce foundations with a wide enough color range. For a model, this can be damaging as it affects your ability to work as Tyra Banks narrates.

Fired Because of Natural Hair

Tyra Banks’ eight-year-long career at Victoria Secrets has been iconic. In a recent interview, Tyra Banks revealed that her iconic role as Victoria Secret’s Angel almost never came to reality for this very reason. Tyra is one of the most memorable models in Victoria Secret’s four-decade existence but she didn’t have the easiest time breaking into the industry, all because of her African-American textured hair.

Tyra Banks was the first black woman to feature on the cover of the Victoria Secrets catalog and land the coveted spot as the Angel. That’s how her early career found her making history with the modeling agency. But it was a challenging journey and all of that almost didn’t happen because the hairdresser didn’t know what to do with her hair, so she was sent home.

Still a Long Way to Go

A year later, Banks tried out the Victoria Secrets again. However, this time it was different because she hired her own hair stylist instead of relying on the agency’s stylists. In an interview with W Magazine, Tyra Banks says that she had to figure out how to make sure that she looked good at work to avoid losing her once in a lifetime opportunity to be a Victoria Secrets model.

Tyra Banks would soon rise to become one of the most popular models on Victoria Secrets at which point she used her influence to make the brand hire a hairstylist who knew how to work her hair. She went on to work with the brand for several years. Tyra Banks was happy to see the brand step up to accommodate her but says that the industry still has a long way to go when it comes to diversity.

Author: Erica Barton

“Changing attitudes about natural hair” is what we do at Natural Haircare News. Through informative articles, podcasts and videos, we go beyond just sharing the latest advice and tips on kinky, curly, wavy haircare – We shake things up and focus on the realities of wearing our hair natural.