Kerry Washington hasn’t relaxed her hair since she was in her 20s. (Sharif Hamza/Allure)
Sleek hair is one of Kerry Washington’s trademarks but she’s not donning her iconic “Scandal” ‘do offscreen. Instead, she lets her natural curls pop — which isn’t unordinary for many Black TV stars. However, Washington has a special reason for doing so.
“I like to wear my natural texture, especially now because I have children and I want them to know that their hair is perfect as it is,” she told Allure for the November issue. “They don’t have to change it or straighten it. They can, but they don’t have to.”
While Washington gives 3-year-old Isabelle and 1-year-old Caleb the choice of straightening their hair, the actress has no plans to go back to the creamy crack.
“I have grown to like my hair more and more over the years,” she said. “I won’t have any chemicals in it. I stopped relaxing my hair in my early 20s.”
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Washington’s curls dropped jaws when she walked the Emmys red carpet in 2016. Aside from her pregnancy glow (and bump), her hair was her most notable accessory.
2016 #emmys pic.twitter.com/33NX7tNbVK
— best of kerry (@badpostkerry) September 17, 2017
But believe it or not, Washington made the transition for a practical reason, as she told Redbook.
“I’d been relaxing my hair since I was a little girl, so part of it was just wanting to see what would happen if I didn’t,” she said. “Quitting has been such a time-saver, and my hair feels much healthier now. It’s been fun getting to know my real curls.”
