Tanaye White found self-love through haircare

Tanaye White found “self-love” through her haircare journey.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model decided to revive her curls after years of heat damage, and the process helped her become more comfortable with herself.

She told Glamour: “For pretty much my entire life I was getting my hair straightened with a hot comb. I got my first relaxer at six, so I actually never knew the true texture of my hair until I cut it all off in December 2016.

“I was just ready for a change and had been slowly growing out the relaxer so I could already see little curls coming in. I was like, ‘Okay, let me just go full throttle.’ And it has definitely been a journey of self-love in and of itself.”

Now, the 28-year-old beauty has created the perfect wash day routine using a rice water treatment to help strengthen her hair.

She explained: I set aside either Sundays or Mondays, always washing my hair at least once a week. If I have a photo shoot where I have a lot of extra products in my hair, I might even do it twice.

“I wash the rice, then I’ll soak it for two to three days. I like to add an orange peel in it just to make sure the smell doesn’t get too bad. Then, before I go through my wash and conditioning process, I spray the water in my hair section by section and let it sit in my hair for one to two hours before rinsing out.”

What’s more, Tanaye used the coronavirus pandemic to “master” styling her baby hairs and is determined to help others achieve the look.

She added: “During quarantine, I was able to master the art of baby hairs—adult hairs that just happen to be small and in the front of your head.

“For lot of girls who have 4C hair, I feel like they think they can’t achieve the look because they feel like it’s for a specific texture. And I want to combat that idea, because it’s not true.”