Miss America 2027 Regan Hutsell Makes History for Natural Hair and Texas | image source: wikipedia
Regan Hutsell did more than win the Miss America crown. The 25-year-old Texan stepped onto one of America’s most recognizable pageant stages wearing her natural curls and walked away with a place in its history.
Hutsell was crowned Miss America 2027 on September 6, 2026, at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is the 99th Miss America and the fourth woman representing Texas to win the national title in the competition’s 105-year history.
According to the Miss America Organization, Hutsell is also the first woman of color to win the Miss America crown while wearing her natural hair. The Houston Chronicle reports that she is the 10th Black woman to become Miss America.
For Hutsell, however, the curls seen onstage were not simply a styling choice. They represented a much more personal journey toward accepting the way she naturally looks.
Why wearing her natural hair mattered
Hutsell recalled being unsure about what to do with her hair when she first entered pageantry. She considered straightening it, but remembered how her curls had struggled to recover after she straightened her hair several years earlier.
Eventually, she decided to stop trying to alter its natural texture and compete with her curls as they were. The decision gradually changed the way she viewed beauty herself.
Hutsell said she wanted young girls watching from home particularly those whose hair, skin or appearance may fall outside a stereotypical idea of beauty to see that they could appear on major stages without changing who they are.
After winning, she described her new position as an opportunity to serve as a “bridge” for women who may not always see themselves represented in pageantry.
Regan Hutsell Wins Miss America 2027, Makes History With Natural Hair | image courtesy: facebook/missamerica
Texas ends a 51-year wait
Hutsell’s victory is also a major moment for Texas. She is only the fourth Miss Texas to win Miss America. The state’s previous winners were Jo-Carrol Dennison in 1942, Phyllis George in 1971 and Shirley Cothran in 1975.
That makes Hutsell the first Texan to take the national crown in 51 years. The result was particularly significant after Miss Texas contestants finished as first runner-up in each of the previous three Miss America competitions.
Miss Louisiana Shelby Bordelon finished first runner-up in the 2027 competition, while Miss Illinois Kate Dimmett was second runner-up. Sharlize True Trujillo of California and Evelyn Smith of Washington, D.C. completed the Top 5.
From Radio City Rockette to Miss America
Long before pageantry became part of her life, Hutsell was building a professional career in dance. She began competing in dance when she was seven and achieved one of her childhood ambitions at 18, when she was hired as a Radio City Rockette in 2019.
Hutsell later joined the prestigious Birmingham Royal Ballet in Britain in 2021. She performed across a range of productions and became part of the inaugural BRB2 company in 2023.
Among her performances was Carlos Acosta’s Dying Swans, which she danced alongside Jack Easton. She left the company in 2025 to pursue other opportunities. Her dance background remained central to her Miss America journey.
During the preliminary competition, Hutsell won awards in both fitness and talent, earning the talent honor with a jazz dance to “Le Jazz Hot.”
The struggle behind ‘Your Body Is Your Home’
Hutsell’s years in professional dance were not without personal struggles. She has spoken openly about recovering from an eating disorder while dealing with the pressures surrounding perfectionism and body image in elite performance.
Those experiences eventually inspired her community service initiative, Your Body Is Your Home, which focuses on developing healthy self-worth, encouraging positive inner dialogue and reminding people that their value is not determined by their appearance.
Hutsell told PEOPLE that a coach once helped reshape her thinking by reminding her that her body was more than an instrument for dance it was also the home she had to live in.
Entering pageantry therefore came with some anxiety. She knew it was another environment where appearances, clothing and presentation would receive significant attention.
What helped her, she said, was the way Miss America framed fitness around an active, healthy lifestyle rather than simply being as thin as possible.
That distinction allowed her to approach the competition from a place of strength rather than comparison.
Regan Hutsell Crowned Miss America 2027, Ending Texas’ 51-Year Wait | image courtesy: facebook/missamerica
Two knee surgeries and a message of hope
Hutsell has faced physical setbacks as well. In her post-win interview with PEOPLE, she spoke about recovering from an eating disorder, undergoing two knee surgeries and living through periods when she was uncertain about what the next stage of her life would look like.
Those experiences are now shaping what she wants her Miss America reign to represent.
Her chosen message is hope, particularly the belief that difficult periods do not define what comes next and that dreams that once seem unrealistic may still be worth pursuing.
Nearly $90,000 in scholarships
The title is also helping Hutsell move toward another career beyond the stage. The Miss America Organization says she has earned nearly $90,000 in scholarships through the program. Her national victory included a $50,000 scholarship toward her education.
She is pursuing Health Sciences with the goal of becoming a physical therapist, a career that would allow her to combine her experience with movement, recovery and rehabilitation.
Birmingham Royal Ballet said Hutsell plans to use her scholarship funding to work toward that goal without taking on educational debt.
Former Radio City Rockette Regan Hutsell Wins Miss America 2027 | image courtesy: facebook/missamerica
A wider year of change in American pageantry
Hutsell’s victory comes during a notable year for representation across major American pageants.
In August, Justus Kelley of Virginia was crowned Miss USA 2026. At 31, Kelley became the first married woman, the first mother and the first woman in her 30s to officially hold the Miss USA title. Her win followed eligibility changes introduced in 2023 that opened the competition to married women and mothers and removed the previous age cap.
Victoria Oluwakotanmi, a Nigerian-American titleholder, is meanwhile serving as Miss Grand USA 2026. She had initially finished first runner-up before assuming the crown on August 21 after the Miss Grand USA Organization terminated previous winner Mekyla Li’s reign.
Hutsell, Kelley and Oluwakotanmi are all women of color holding prominent U.S. pageant titles. Hutsell said seeing different versions of American beauty represented on national stages is important.
Echoes of another historic pageant year
American pageantry experienced another landmark moment in 2019. That year, Nia Franklin, Cheslie Kryst and Kaliegh Garris simultaneously held the Miss America, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA titles.
By the end of the year, South Africa’s Zozibini Tunzi had won Miss Universe and Jamaica’s Toni-Ann Singh had become Miss World, marking a historic moment in which Black women simultaneously held five of the world’s most prominent pageant crowns.
Hutsell’s Miss America victory now adds another chapter to that evolving story.
Her natural curls may be the most immediately visible symbol of the moment, but her story reaches beyond hair. It connects representation with body confidence, recovery, education and the freedom to enter a major stage without feeling that authenticity must first be edited away.
