The WNBA’s Million-Dollar Offer Isn’t What it Seems
There’s a reason A’ja Wilson’s hairstyle didn’t budge during the Las Vegas Aces’ 17-game winning streak: Superstition runs deep in pro sports, and Wilson’s hairstylist, Myesha Jamerson, wasn’t taking any chances. “I told her we’re not taking the bun out—they’ve been winning with the bun,” Jamerson tells Front Office Sports.
She does Wilson’s hair before every home game, a routine built across eight years together. Earlier this season, Wilson switched things up every few weeks—braided buns, high ponytails, long gelled curls—but during this final playoff push, she’s kept a consistent ritual.
The WNBA is growing in visibility and influence. Alongside it, a new, specialized network of professional hairstylists, makeup artists, and nail techs is ensuring athletes feel like themselves—and look like the stars they increasingly are.
Hairstylists occupy a uniquely demanding lane: Their work has to hold up on the court, which has meant big business for the pros who understand both the technical demands of athletic performance and the aesthetic needs of being in the spotlight. They work in hotel rooms at 2 a.m., travel with suitcases full of products, and create looks that withstand the heat, sweat, and contact of competition.
The WNBA’s 2024 season was the highest-viewed in league history, and this year has already returned similar numbers. On average, 969,000 viewers tuned in per regular-season game across ESPN networks, Ion, and CBS in 2025, up 3% over last year, even with Caitlin Clark’s extended absence due to injuries. Attendance, merch sales, and sponsorship dollars are also shattering records. With that growth comes heightened scrutiny, expanded commercial opportunities, and a new pressure for players to look camera-ready at all times.
The philosophy driving this work is captured by Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird: “Look good, feel good, play good.” Bird’s ritual was all about her ponytail. “When my ponytail’s done right, it puts me at ease,” she told beauty publication Into the Gloss in 2020. If it slipped mid-game, so too did her focus.
Glam is rarely brokered by teams. Most connections happen via word of mouth. In her rookie year, Wilson found Jamerson through a salon business card passed out at an Aces meet-and-greet.
For Los Angeles–based stylist Sabrina Jackson, known professionally as BeejayDidIt, the pipeline started years ago with a DM from Tiffany Hayes, then with the Atlanta Dream. Jackson’s business grew via referrals around the league, many of them Las Vegas Aces players including Sydney Colson, Chelsea Gray, and Dearica Hamby. Colson and Hamby have since left the team, but Jackson has remained a fixture. She is now in her eighth year of working with the Aces, styling many of the players for media day and the team’s back-to-back championships, and counts Hamby as a close personal friend as well as a longtime client.
Dallas-based Adriunna Brown was feeling “stagnant” in her career several years ago when Isabelle Harrison of the Dallas Wings slid into her DMs. You get that moment like, O.K., we’re getting somewhere,” she says. From that first appointment grew a client list that reads like an All-Star roster: Arike Ogunbowale, DiJonai Carrington, Kalani Brown, and Teaira McCowan, among others.
Wings guard Ogunbowale tells FOS that their partnership has become part of her pre-shoot and game-week rhythm: “Since we have such a great relationship, it helps me feel comfortable getting ready for big moments like commercials and brand shoots. I feel like we’ve grown together, and I’m grateful to have her along for the ride and hopefully lots of other special moments to come.”
Jamerson has built her practice around Wilson’s schedule, mapping out the entire season and attending every home game as a season-ticket holder. “I wouldn’t be where I am without her,” she says of Wilson. “We have that personal bond, and I want to make sure she looks good. She’s such a great person, and it’s a pleasure.”
During the season, players typically pay out of pocket for beauty services, though teams or brands may cover these costs for commercial shoots and media appearances. Since WNBA players earn significantly less than their NBA counterparts—the maximum base salary is around $250,000—every dollar matters. Still, players keep investing in their appearances because they know their image helps build their brands and drive earning power.
“We have to show how marketable we are and how we’re also a basketball player—but we can also model, we can be pretty, we can do other things,” Dana Evans told the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2023, when she played for the Chicago Sky.
Kalani Brown, who was a competitive track athlete in college, understands athletes’ unique challenges: How do you keep edges intact through hours of aggressive play? How do you make eyelash extensions last through a playoff series? Often, stylists will attach a lace-front wig with glue, but she explains, “as an athlete, we sweat a lot, and with glue on your head, it’s hard to keep that maintained. For athletes, I tell everyone: Just sew it down, sew it down. You won’t have trouble with it falling off or shifting.”
What looks normal on an average-height person translates differently on players such as McCowan and Brown, who stand at 6-foot-7. “They want long hair; they want it to swing on the court,” Brown says. “A 50-inch [wig] is four feet of hair. On someone that tall, 34 inches might only come to the bra strap.”
These pros must also be available at unusual hours and in unconventional locations. Installing hair extensions can take four hours, and even maintenance takes at least an hour and a half. During the season, stylists might work 14-hour days, traveling between clients’ hotels and handling last-minute requests.
Jackson recalls staying up “almost three days straight braiding” before the Aces’ 2023 championship parade, ensuring every player looked fresh. “Everyone wanted a new style. That was crazy but exciting.” Brown says she can sometimes get done at two in the morning: “I joke, ‘Hey, I need a raise,’ but I love them. That makes it worth it.”
Brown’s rates start at $100 for a simple wash-and-style and go up to $650 for creating and installing a custom lace frontal wig. After-hours or early-morning appointments are an additional $100, and clients can opt for add-ons like highlights ($250) or removing a previously installed weave ($100). For Jamerson, VIP at-home concierge services—available 24/7—cost a $250 minimum, with final pricing dependent on the look and timing. Jackson likewise says house calls and late appointments, which players’ schedules often demand, are priced above salon rates.
Jamerson says her work with Wilson and other players in the W now dominates her income, positioning her as a go-to for athletes, productions, and celebrities, and enabling her to travel with top clients while maintaining her salon business at home.
The league’s embrace of beauty has come with controversy. Beyond hair, players have been criticized for eyelash extensions and nail length, with some fans saying that caring about looks takes away from their focus on the court. In 2022, Tennessee’s Tamari Key faced a barrage of social media criticism for wearing eyelash extensions during games, with some fans claiming her appearance affected her performance—even though she’d worn the same extensions the year before at the top of her game.
“It’s not fair to us,” Evans told the News Sentinel at the time, “and as a fan, I feel like—you have a lot of Black women that are expressing themselves. Why are you trying to downgrade them when you should be supporting them when they’re playing for your team?”
When Carrington, then on the Connecticut Sun, unintentionally scraped Caitlin Clark’s eye in last year’s playoffs, trolls fixated on her “gigantic nails.” Photos showed her nails were short, but a fan still showed up in a “BAN NAILS” shirt for Game 2. She later posted on social media: “I’ve loved rockin my short, natural nails ALL season. Please leave me alone!!!”
But the beauty pros behind the scenes see their role as empowerment, not distraction. Hair, makeup, and nail choices have become ways for predominantly Black athletes to express themselves authentically in a professional setting, pushing back against decades of expectations to conform to more conservative standards.
“Your hair is your personality,” Brown says. “Being in uniform, it’s part of their personal brand. It also identifies them on the court.” Players like Ogunbowale are instantly recognizable by their signature looks—her long, wavy hair becomes a visual cue for fans watching games.
The looks also have immense commercial value: Athletes increasingly understand that appearance directly impacts earning potential. Tunnel walks and media appearances are major platforms for sponsorship. Wilson’s viral silver-and-pink wigs at the past two WNBA media days generated more buzz than many players’ season highlights. (Some of her biggest fans have worn similar wigs to games in tribute.)
The business opportunities continue expanding. Brown is working toward team partnerships and brand deals. Jamerson is developing her own edge-control line for athletes under her Madame Muse Beauty brand, after years of trial and error in finding formulations that work with intense physical activity.
Back in Las Vegas, the Aces are preparing for a playoff test at home Thursday, coming off a loss in Seattle. If the bun returns, it’s superstition; if a new style appears, it’s strategy.
