Look through the winners of Miss Universe from the past few decades, and you may notice a common trend: whether their hair is blond or brunette, red or black, their locks are almost always long.
That changed Sunday, when Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi became the first woman with natural afro-textured hair to win the Miss Universe title. She was the first black woman to win the pageant since 2011 and also the first black Miss South Africa to wear the Miss Universe crown.
While Tunzi has been praised for her advocacy of natural beauty during the competition, the pageant queen told Insider that many people initially tried to persuade her to wear a wig instead.
"A lot of people did," she said. "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.'"
Zozibini Tunzi had been wearing her hair natural for years. She knew she didn't want to change herself just for the pageant.
"I was like, 'No, you know what, I'm going to do it the way I am, because I've been with my natural hair for the past three years,"' she said. "I don't see why I should change it just because I'm stepping into another platform."
Tunzi said she wasn't offended by her friends' words, though, adding that they were just repeating what "society has taught us and engraved in our minds for such a long time."
"In the past, I think that beauty has been stereotyped to look one certain way," she continued. "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."
But Tunzi has tried to challenge that stereotype with her platform, wanting to show women that "beauty can be anything."
"I'm saying beauty does not look one certain way," she said. "I'm telling women, you can be beautiful too if you want to. You can stand up and say 'I'm beautiful the way that I am, with the shape that I am, with the skin color that I have, with the freckles that I have.'"
"Anything that is considered unusual and unconventional can still be beautiful too," she added. "That's why I feel so proud about this win."
Tunzi said she didn't begin wearing her hair natural to make a statement. She said she had just grown tired of sitting in a salon chair for hours and wanted something new.
"I decided, no, this is not worth it," she recalled. "I decided that I just want to go for a different look. I'm going to cut my hair and see how it looks from there. And I just remember looking into the mirror and loving it."