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Victora’s Secret Almost Lost Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks is best known for her Victoria’s Secret days, but the beauty almost didn’t get to walk the VS runway and it was all due to her hair. Tyra recounted an incident with the lingerie giant in her early years as a VS angel. “I had to figure out how to make sure I looked good at work, because I almost lost my opportunity at Victoria’s Secret. I was sent home the first day because the hairdresser didn’t know what to do with my African American hair, so it looked crazy,” told W Magazine. But she persisted with the company and got her own hairdresser to do her hair and she finally landed a huge gig with them and a 10 year contract.
“Then a year later, I finally begged my agent to get them to give me another chance, and I had my hairdresser come to my apartment in Union Square and wash, blow-dry, and flat-iron my hair. And then I wrapped it and put a scarf on until the next day, when I was on my way to Victoria’s Secret and stepped out of a cab and whooshed it off my head, walked in, got my makeup done, didn’t let the hair people touch me, went to the bathroom, redid my face, put on extra lip gloss, and walked on that set. Cut to a 10-year contract. I’m the first black woman on the cover of their catalog; I’m the first black woman to have a contract, to be an Angel, to wear a Fantasy Bra—all of these different things, because I stopped silently suffering. And I do have to take my hat off to Victoria’s Secret, because that was the last time I ever had to do that—I talked to them and said, “Look, my hair is different, I need somebody who can do my hair.” After that, they hired people who could do my hair for 10 years.”
Photo from PR Photos
