Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi Reveals Friends Initially Tried to Persuade Her to Wear a Wig or Weave to the Pageant

Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi reveals people were initially trying to convince her to wear a wig or weave to the pageant, but she decided to wear her natural hair. Now, she's Miss Universe 2019.

Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi is officially the first woman to win the prestigious Miss Universe pageant title with textured hair.

She is also the first black woman to win the crown since 2011, and the first black Miss South Africa to wear the crown.

Gone are the days when it was rare for Black women to be given the spotlight.

SHE REFUSED TO WEAR A WIG

While Tunzi is an advocate of natural beauty, she reveals that many people tried to persuade her into wearing a wig to the pageant instead.

"A lot of people did, and it was so strange because even a lot of people I knew, people that were my friends, were like 'sis, we love you, but we're just saying, maybe you should put on a wig or buy a weave.'"

Of course, Tunzi rejected all of these opinions and decided to just be herself. After all, she has been wearing her hair natural for years now, and she wasn't about to change that just for the pageant.

UNDERSTANDING THE STEREOTYPES OF BEAUTY

While it seems she was offended by what her friends were saying, she wasn't. In fact, she understands that society has engraved in everyone's minds a certain concept of beauty.

"In the past, I think beauty has been stereotyped to look one certain way. When you open a magazine, that's what you see. When you open television, that's what you see. And it becomes embedded within society and ourselves."

A GREAT YEAR FOR BLACK WOMEN TO REIGN

Gone are the days when it was rare for Black women to be given the spotlight. Now, the world's major pageant winners are Black.

Following Miss USA, Miss America, and Miss Teen USA, Zozibini made history as this year's Miss Universe. A couple of days after, Miss Jamaica was also crowned Miss World, making there five Black beauty queens this year.

Along with her $5 million dollar crown and a luxury penthouse apartment in New York, the 26-year-old South African Beauty Queen hopes to raise awareness and speak to multiple organizations to finally put a stop to gender violence against women, and her fight towards such will be interesting to see.