How Model Karen Williams Cares for Her Hair: From Embracing the Gray to Her DIY Scalp Treatment
Texture Diaries is a space for Black people across industries to reflect on their journeys to self-love, and how accepting their hair, in all its glory, played a pivotal role in this process. Each week, they share their favorite hair rituals, products, and the biggest lessons they’ve learned when it comes to affirming their beauty and owning their unique hair texture.
Advocating for age inclusivity is what keeps model Karen Williams going. The self-titled “empowered aging ambassador” has been modeling since she was 13, after she was scouted by a photographer. She subsequently signed to Ford Models and modeled into her early 40s. After taking a break to pursue other passions like film production and acting, Williams returned to the modeling world at age 54 with a mission to “advocate for greater representation of diverse people aging in fashion and beauty,” she tells Vogue. “And to promote the need for age to be a required component of diversity and inclusivity across all industries.”
In recent years, Williams has starred in H&M campaigns and posed next to her 80-year-old mother for the book I Am Beauty: Timeless Skincare and Beauty for Women Over 40 by makeup artist Riku Campo. When she’s not shooting, Williams hosts conversations with women over 40, such as DJ and actor Belinda Becker, as well as Chiara D’Agostino, a body positive model on the I Am the Movement YouTube channel.
Williams grew up understanding that Black was beautiful thanks to the people who surrounded her. When she was born, her parents were students at Howard University at a time when the Black Power movement was gestating. Her family counted Stokely Carmichael as a friend. “His mother was like a grandmother to me,” Williams says.
