As we watch Olympic gymnasts swing from the uneven bars and flip across the floor in Paris, we can’t help but wonder: How does their hair stay in place? So like the journalists we are, we tapped a pro who’d know.
Whenever four-time All-American gymnast Margzetta Frazier stepped out onto the mat at a meet, she—much like the current competitors who have us glued to our screens—always had more important things to focus on than whether her ’do was going to hold.
Luckily, Frazier doesn’t have to give her hair a second thought—that’s another routine that the former US national team member has on lock.
The 24-year-old former gymnast, who retired from the sport in May 2024 after her sixth season with the University of California Los Angeles gymnastics team, has an impressive stat sheet. She’s a two-time US national team member, the 2018 Birmingham World Cup silver medalist, and the 2021 Pac-12 uneven bars champ—not to mention, she successfully hit 146 of 147 routines in her career without a single fall.
Looking her best helps Frazier focus when it’s most important. “When you look good, you compete good,” Frazier told me over a video call. “That’s how I’ve always looked at it.”
Her go-to competition hairstyle, a slicked-back high ponytail that sits on the crown of her head, hasn’t changed since middle school—so she has had time to finesse her hair routine, perfecting it down to the last rhinestone. Here’s what Frazier used to slick back her locks every time she would go for gold, and how she keeps her hair healthy on a regular basis.
