Olympic Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas Responds To Hair Critics, Her Mother Chimes In

Gabby Douglas, 16, is breaking all kind of records as the first African-American to win gold in gymnastics for team and all-around competition.

However, what was at the forefront of Gabby's achievements was her damaged, gelled back hair...

Gabby speaks out about the backlash directed her hair...

"I don't know where this is coming from. What's wrong with my hair?...I'm like, `I just made history and people are focused on my hair?' It can be bald or short, it doesn't matter about (my) hair."

Douglas uses gel, clips and a ponytail holder to keep things in place while she competes, a style she's worn for years.

"Nothing is going to change," she said. "I'm going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals. You might as well just stop talking about it."

"I don't think people should be worried about that," she said. "We're all champions and we're all winners. I just say that it's kind of, a stupid and crazy thought to think about my hair."

Gabby's mother Natlie Hawkins talked about her daughter's hair regime, and even trying to get in a hair appointment but it just isn't a priority during her competitions...

Was Gabby stressed out about the hair controversy?

Natalie, "She said, 'Really?! I won two gold medals and made history and my hair is trending?' So we laughed about it. We made a huge joke out of it and I was quick to try to diffuse that situation. Because I thought, “How ignorant is it of people to comment on her hair and she still has more competitions to go. Are you TRYING to ruin her self confidence? She has to go out there and feel good about herself, and if she feels good about herself on that floor, who are YOU to criticize her? What have YOU done to help contribute to her dream, that you felt it necessary to put it out there so that she could see it....

...At this level in her career, hair is somewhat secondary. It was actually her coach who told me that. I was trying to get her into a hair appointment and I wanted to move her training schedule around and he said to me, “She’s beautiful. You don’t need to change her hair. We need to focus on training. Hair is secondary. We make time for that after training. Don’t mess with my training time.” And then too, I don’t think people realize sometimes that she doesn’t live with me. She lives with a white host family and they don’t know anything about taking care of her hair. And there’s no black salons in their area [in Iowa]–not one. We had to work really hard to find a stylist to come and do her hair."

What does she get done to it?

Natlalie, "She gets relaxer but we try not to relax it too much. It’s really been African American women that have come out and attacked her. They don’t know about gymnastics. She has to keep her hair in a ponytail 28-30 hours a week. In gymnastics you’re tumbling around on your hair. You’re falling backwards on it. You’re doing “timers” and your hair is constantly snagging on the mat, and for our hair that’s very detrimental. You’re going into foam pits–and any hair stylist will tell you that foam on African American hair is destructive. It breaks the hair horribly. We had to come up with creative ways to keep [Gabby's] hair looking good. We’ve tried the short hair style, we’ve tried long. We grew her hair out because she preferred long hair. I’m not going to make her cut her hair just to please someone else."

We think taking care of your body, overall hair included, SHOULD be a priority to perform/feel your best. He hair looks very damaged and unhealthy, in our opinion...

Do you think Gabby should make her hair a priority, or do athletes have to sacrifice bare necessities to achieve their dreams?

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