It was only a few weeks ago that Olympic swimmer Simone Manuel becoming the first Black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming, set an Olympic record in 100m freestyle and contributed to all the amazing #blackgrilmagic that went down at the games.
So you can only imagine our excitement when the 20-year-old phenom stopped by ESSENCE LIVE to chat with us about her Olympic experience. And beyond basking in her awesomeness we were curious about her beauty regimen.
As a Black woman we imagine it must be difficult maintaining her hair when she’s in and out of chlorine water. But, Manuel says it’s pretty simple.
Manuel says she washes her hair every other day and when it comes to products she doesn’t have any specific favorites.
“I switch products up around, depending how my hair is working at that time,” Manuel told ESSENCE.
Manuel’s mother, Sharron Manuel, played a huge role in giving her the confidence to pursue swimming despite the stress it would put on her hair.
“I told her it’s just hair,” she told ESSENCE. “Beauty is from the inside and not the physical features.”
Simone has always been a girly-girl, her mother added, and she was natural until her senior year of high school. At that point, Simone decided to put in a light texturize to do “something different.”
Check out the video above to hear Manuel dish about her hair and how she’s helping encourage young Black kids to get into the pool.