Allyson Felix on Elegance Standards as a Black Woman Athlete

If you will find 1 issue that some of modern most celebrated girls athletes have in typical, it is really their developing motivation to use elegance as a means of expression when competing. Christina Clemons breezed earlier her competitiveness at the Tokyo Olympics in everything from daring make-up to butterfly clip-adorned double buns. Other athletes like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Naomi Osaka stood out by way of colorful, patriotic hairstyles. Even though Allyson Felix — the most decorated American monitor athlete in Olympics history — claims her precompetition natural beauty regime is a great deal extra pared-down, she nevertheless will not like to be place in a box.

“When I am competing, I check out to retain matters truly straightforward and just just take care of my pores and skin,” she told POPSUGAR. “I am in the sun, so I like to make confident I moisturize and have on sunscreen. My hair is also a massive element of that. I adore utilizing Pantene Gold Series’s Butter Cream ($8) right before I braid my hair — it would make my hair sense so smooth and guarded when I take my braids out.” (Editor’s take note: Felix recently partnered with the brand for its “What’s Your Legacy” initiative.)

While the Olympian may well not experiment as a lot with make-up or nail artwork on the monitor subject, she nevertheless is aware of what it really is like for her appears to be like to be underneath frequent scrutiny — but she’s not worried to thrust again.

“Us woman athletes are held to this common that not only do you have to be remarkable on the field of play, you also have to meet these splendor specifications,” she mentioned. “For a the greater part of my occupation, I failed to really feel like I healthy into them — not acquiring the blond hair or blue eyes not fitting into this picture that a ton of periods you see on the journal covers. It’s been tough, but at the same time, I feel like I’ve genuinely embraced who I am.”

Embracing what tends to make her distinct is a thing she’s discovered to do as her athletic career progressed, and it is a person major great she hopes to go down to her 2-calendar year-old daughter, Camryn.

“I will normally boost to my daughter that she’s distinctive and that all of her variations from every person else make her specific,” she claimed. “There’s splendor all across the board in all of our variances. I want to make positive she’s snug in her pores and skin and confident, and I assume that arrives from myself and the girls that I encompass her with.”

Felix continued, “I genuinely hope to go down to her that solid is attractive, and that getting comfy in your possess skin is wonderful. How we each individual outline magnificence is diverse, but we can all sort of embrace the various approaches that we do that.”