Winnie Harlow Has Some (Inner) Beauty Advice

Winnie Harlow knows a thing or two about feeling comfortable in your own skin. Growing up with non-segmented vitiligo, she didn't have many other people who looked like her. The autoimmune condition caused parts of her skin to lose their pigment, resulting in a mosaic of patches all over her body. Ask Harlow how she learned to feel beautiful living with a visible difference, and she'll tell you she always did. It was the rest of the world that needed to catch up. "I was raised to feel like I was beautiful. I was raised seeing beautiful women in my family, and I was raised being told I was beautiful," Harlow tells Popsugar. "But the people at school [and] the stares I got — all those things started to make me feel insecure." She remembers how parents warned their children not to play with Harlow, because they might "catch her skin." Classmates made fun of her vitiligo with insulting nicknames like "cow" and "zebra," and in high school, the bullying became physical. Harlow was forced to drop out and switch to homeschooling for some reprieve, where she was able to rebuild her self-esteem. "Our opinion of ourselves should matter most." "As a kid, you're so prone to wanting other people's approval," she says. "As we get more seasoned in life, we realize that our opinion of ourselves should matter most." For Harlow, that mindset shift started with a choice to educate herself about vitiligo, to show herself love, and to choose confidence (almost) every day. Her recent work on Incyte's The Power of Choice campaign empowers others living with vitiligo to make similar choices, and feel informed about their options in partnership with a dermatologist. "I am confident by nature, and I'm confident by my Jamaican roots, but no one is confident every single day," Harlow says. "Like right now, I have the biggest pimple I've ever had in my entire life on my cheek," she laughs. The point isn't to ignore these insecurities, but to ensure they aren't dictating your life. "Some days you're going to be down, that's OK. But not every day," she says. In deciding hers was the only opinion that really mattered, Harlow took her renewed sense of self and ran with it. She quickly built a following, secured major campaigns, and booked huge runway shows, becoming the first ever Victoria's Secret Angel with vitiligo. "I would've loved to see me on a 'Vogue' cover when I was a little girl. That would've made me feel so confident," she says. "So, you know what? I'm going to [do it]." "I would've loved to see me on a 'Vogue' cover when I was a little girl." It's not that Harlow ever lost sight of her own potential. It's just that the rest of the world tried to make her doubt herself. Even in the modeling world, she dealt with plenty of rejection before finding international success. That only re-affirmed her belief that beauty is not dependent on the approval of others. "If we were born on a stranded island, all by ourselves, and the only vision of beauty we ever had was us, we would think we're the most beautiful person in the world," Harlow says. "It's only when comparison comes into play that we lose that sense of self." Harlow's vitiligo journey has taught her a lot about self-love, kindness, and what it really means to be beautiful. Truthfully, she's still learning. But in spite of all the hardship it caused her growing up, the condition also has its silver linings. "Although I do feel like I'm beautiful inside, the fact that people judge based on outward appearance — and I've been affected by that — makes me hyper aware to the inner beauty of people," she says. "That's something I really love." Just as vitiligo changes over time, so does Harlow's relationship with the condition. But through rough patches and pinch-me moments, she's emerged as someone who no longer seeks validation. After all, she already has it from the most important source — herself. "Once I went to school, I was focused on other people's opinions. And what changed is that I wasn't focused on how people felt about my skin [anymore], because I felt I was beautiful," she explains, pointing to her personal growth. "If you believe that you are beautiful, that's all that should matter," she says. "It's been really beautiful to make the younger me happy by believing in my own beauty." 49471478 Chandler Plante (she/her) is a social producer and staff writer for the Health & Fitness team at Popsugar. She has over five years of industry experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine, a social media manager for Millie magazine, and a contributor for Bustle Digital Group. She has a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and is based in Los Angeles.