It’s safe to say that Megan Rapinoe’s soccer and beauty game are equally as strong. It takes a special kind of person to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup (twice!) and rock bright pink hair all the while.
While running through drills, eating right and practicing before a big match are all top priority, Rapinoe tells Us Weekly’s Stylish that her haircut and color also play a pretty big factor when it comes to getting in the right head space.
“I always say, ‘Look good. Feel good. Play good.’ In that order. You have to have that for yourself. When you have that, you just go out there [to the field] with your shoulders back a little bit,” the 35-year-old athlete says.
Getting in that positive ‘look good, feel good’ head space came through defining her personal style both on and off the field. Of course, that includes her pink hair. “It was just a fun and expressive way to express my style and my individuality … Obviously going to the World Cup everything is so serious and stressful. It was kind of a fun way to f—k with everyone,” she jokes to Us.
As a women in sports though, Rapinoe found that she had the power to break down stereotypes and challenge the status quo through her style choices, be it her pink hair, tattoos or clothing choices.
“I think the beauty industry has been negatively gendered. It’s if you want to be beautiful, then you have to look this way — and it’s feminine. And if you want to be sporty, it’s all masculine. Why are they separate? I can be really sporty and strong and still feel beautiful,” she tells Stylish.
Rapinoe continues: “So for me, having pink hair it’s a kind of expression of the way that I relate to beauty. When I’m on the soccer field, I want to look beautiful. That may be a different kind of beauty than what I want when I’m out to dinner or in a photo shoot, but it’s the fact that the expression should be your own and not what’s just told to you.”
Part of what makes Rapinoe feel confident on the field is making sure she smells nice. And thanks to her new partnership with Schmidt’s, she’s confident that their natural deodorants are making body odor a thing of the past.
The soccer star admittedly had FOBO, the brand’s cheeky way of saying, ‘fear of body odor,’ when it came to using natural deodorant. But after giving the product a go, her mind was put at ease.
“It just actually works. I put it to the ultimate test, which is wearing it with dry fit material, which for whatever reason just never smells good. I’ve been wearing it for 8 months now, but I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this actually works!’”
Rapinoe also adds that she’s made a point to eat cleaner, so it was important to be using products that had the same ethos. “I want to smell good and also have it be really good for my body.”
As for the stars personal favorite? The Schmidt’s Lavender & Sage Deodorant Stick, which is available at schmidts.com.
