Simone Biles has never lacked confidence in the gym. Her hair is a different story, a subject she’s been publicly picked apart over more than once, from Olympic bun controversies to comments on her wedding day. She opened up about that tension again this week in a clip that’s equal parts funny and revealing, telling a story that started as an odd social media exchange and ended with her unfollowing someone over it.

On August 19, Biles shared what she called “the weirdest interaction” she had with an influencer a couple of years back. She had been following the woman for a while, drawn in by her style and content, but it was the hair that really caught her attention, always “laid to a T,” so polished Biles couldn’t tell if it was natural or a weave.

At the time, Biles said she had become more particular about her own hair because of the criticism she had received during competitions.

“I didn’t really give a f**k that much. Y’all had been bullying me for so long about what my hair looked like during competition,” she recalled.

That made her think that if she could get her hair looking as good as the influencer’s, perhaps people would finally stop commenting on it.

The two women had already been talking about their hair, and Biles regularly complimented the influencer’s looks. So when the influencer posted another story, Biles decided to ask for the contact information of her hairstylist.

“Girl, you need to send me your hair person contact slash Insta,” Biles recalled asking.

The response, however, caught her completely off guard. The influencer reportedly told Biles, “My manager has it. I’ll have to ask her.”

Biles couldn’t wrap her head around it.

“You don’t know who does your hair when you go to your hair appointments? You don’t have their contact or Instagram?” she asked in the video.

She said she understands gatekeeping to a point, and guessed the influencer may have worried she’d poach the stylist, especially since they lived in different states. But that wasn’t the intent at all.

“That’s not at all what it was, like I travel all the time, so if I’m ever in that area, let me get slay,” she said.

The exchange left a bad taste. “But yeah, I didn’t need that kind of negativity in my life, so I unfollowed her,” Biles said.

Years later, she still brings it up. “To this day, I still think about it, and it cracks me up, but it also like, what?” she said, asking her followers if they found it as strange as she did.

The story is lighthearted, but it sits on top of a much longer relationship Biles has had with criticism over her hair, one that only recently turned into something she can laugh about.

How Simone Biles learned to love her natural hair

When Biles was young, her mother styled her hair in braids, beads, and berets, and she was mostly fine with it. The trouble started as she got older and became more self-conscious about her thick, coarse texture. She began relaxing it because that’s what the girls around her were doing.

“So, I started relaxing it, because that’s how every girl’s hair looked, and I wanted to look like all the other girls,” she told People. “Everyone went through that phase where if it’s not relaxed, it’s not right.”

Gymnastics complicated things further. Biles started the sport so young that she never really learned to do her own hair. “Nobody taught me,” she told ELLE, since she spent most of her time training and relied on professionals to get it done, all while needing it secure enough to survive a routine.

Once she became famous, the criticism stopped being private. During the Paris Olympics qualification round, some social media users called her hair, worn in a bun with braided roots, “messy” and “undone.” The comments followed her again in 2023 after her courthouse wedding, when people said her edges weren’t slicked down enough, calling the look “unkempt.” Biles pushed back, pointing out she lives in Houston and sweats, later telling ELLE, “Most of the backlash we get is from our own community, which is unfortunate. I don’t really care if my edges aren’t smooth.”

Those years of comments clearly affected how Biles thought about her appearance, particularly when she was competing. But over time, her attitude changed. Rather than trying to make her hair fit other people’s expectations, she began embracing her natural texture and the different styles she could wear.

“I’m finally learning to love my hair and the texture that I have and the styles that I can do,” Biles said. She also admitted, “I used to worry about [my hair being considered] not professional. But I’m not embarrassed about it anymore.” What once made her self-conscious is now something she speaks about with confidence!

What once made her self-conscious is now something she speaks about with confidence, and it’s also become part of her public role. Biles currently serves as K18 Hair’s brand ambassador, a partnership built around the same natural hair journey she once kept private.