The rapper, who has had breast implants and butt augmentation procedures, says she developed insecurities after young boys ridiculed her appearance growing up

Cardi B. PHOTO: JON KOPALOFF/GETTY IMAGES

Cardi B has never shied away from discussing her plastic surgery experiences. And even though people may have different opinions about her cosmetic procedures, the rapper says the enhancements make her feel her most confident.

“Well, I’m from New York, right? And New York is a melting pot, especially where I grew up in the Bronx. I was really skinny when I was younger, and in the Bronx, it’s about being thick and having an ass so young boys would be like, ‘Look at your flat ass. You ain’t got no t—ies.’ And it would make me feel so ugly and undeveloped,” Cardi said in an intimate conversation with Mariah Carey for her Interview cover story.

When Cardi was old enough to work as a dancer in a strip club, she used her earnings to get breast implants, which was the first step toward forgetting about her insecurities.

“When I was 18 and became a dancer, I had enough money to afford to buy boobs, so every insecurity that I felt about my breasts was gone,” she said. But by age 20, enhancing her butt became her next priority. “When I was 20, I went to the urban strip club, and in the urban strip clubs, you had to have a big butt. So I felt insecure about that. It took me back to high school. So I got my ass done.”

CARDI B/INSTAGRAM

The plastic surgery procedures helped the star feel like the best version of herself. “Then I felt super confident. I feel so vindicated,” Cardi said.

The “WAP” rapper also opened up to Carey about struggling to manage her hair during her adolescence and the mean comments she faced about her look from boys in her neighborhood. “I’m Trini and I’m Dominican, and there’s a lot of Dominicans that look a certain type of way. They have soft, pretty, curly hair. When I was younger, I didn’t really know how to take care of my hair. Growing up, guys would ask me weird questions like, ‘If you’re Dominican, why is your hair so nappy?'” Cardi remembered.

She continued: “I used to dye my hair, and people used to be like, ‘Oh, your hair’s so crunchy.’ And it would make me feel so weird.”

The “Always Be My Baby” singer echoed Cardi’s feelings about her natural strands. “I’ve had very similar situations with the hair. The hair is always a thing,” Carey said.

Now, Cardi’s learned to cocktail her own at-home hair treatments to keep it her natural mane healthy. “I make my own hair mask and take care of my natural hair, and it makes me feel better, like what people were saying about me isn’t true,” she said. “My hair was not bad because it was nappy. My hair was bad because I didn’t know how to take care of it.”

The star shared her DIY moisturizing hair mask with fans last summer in a video posted on her Instagram. The nourishing treatment includes a combination of avocado, argan oil, mayonnaise, castor oil, olive oil, eggs, honey and banana, she said.

“I know it’s a lot of oil but my [baby’s] hair got to be really hydrated like mine,” she said before applying it to 2½-year-old daughter Kulture.

CARDI B/INSTAGRAM

While the rapper did not list the measurements for each ingredient in the recipe, she did note that she adds just a small amount of honey when she applies the mask to Kulture’s hair, so it doesn’t feel too sticky. Cardi also said she includes “a lot” of black castor oil and uses a blender to get rid of any avocado chunks.

She explained: “This treatment is really good for curl patterns. I don’t really have a curl pattern but my baby does.”