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12 Black Actors Whose Hair Was Completely Mistreated On Set

Hair carries meanings of history, symbolism, and culture. We can go beyond the surface of superficiality when looking at the real roots of what hair is and all that it encompasses. Nowadays, hair has revolutionized into a powerful form of pride that was brought into movies or TV Shows more than ever before.
But for years in Hollywood, the black hairstyle told us an entirely different story, one where only straight hair or long, shiny, Eurocentric-looking “beach waves” were preferred. As a result, there was an ideal upheld by the traditional racist standards of beauty that have persisted in American culture for centuries. The famous stylist, Camille Friend, who has worked on Black Panther, Tenet, and Captain Marvel, claimed that hair stylists who don’t know how to work with Black hair should not be working on film or TV sets.
Today, we have compiled a list of 12 black actors and actresses, who were mistreated by hairstylists while being on set.

#1 Aisha Dee

Source: Jim Spellman / Getty Images

Although Aisha Dee portrayed Kat Edison, a main character in The Bold Type, she had to wait for hours to have a stylist on the production who deal with black hair.

Source: Freeform

She wrote on her Instagram, “It took three seasons to get someone in the hair department who knew how to work with textured hair. This was impactful on so many levels, and I’m grateful to the women who show me how to embrace and love my hair in a way I never had before. I want to make sure that no one else ever has to walk onto a set and feel as though their hair is a burden. It is not.”

#2 Natasha Rothwell

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In the early of her career, Natasha Rothwell usually buys her own hair supplies to bring on set. This cost her a lot of money while filming. “It’s a real disservice to actors of color who are effectively doing someone else’s job and not getting paid for it,” she said.

Source: HBO

She added that if a Black actor is No. 1 on the call sheet, they could get a “star request” to choose their own stylist, which is how many Black hairstylists have obtained into the industry and worked enough days to join the union.

#3 Gabourey Sidibe

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Gabourey Sidibe must suggest the looks for her characters to directors beforehand so that she could come to set with her hair already done.

Source: Fox / FOX Image Collection via Getty Images

“If they don’t have the budget to hire a Black hairstylist for me, or won’t, I just get the director to agree that my character should have box braids or Senegalese twist,” she tweeted.

#4 Monique Coleman

Source: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

Monique Coleman said that the reason her High School Musical character, Taylor McKenzie, was always wearing headbands was to hide how poorly her hair was made by the film's stylists.

Source: Disney Channel

Coleman revealed, “We’ve grown a lot in this industry and we’ve grown a lot in representation and we’ve grown a lot in terms of understanding the needs of an African American actress. But the truth is, is that they had done my hair, and they had done it very poorly in the front.”
Coleman suggested to the hairdressers that they make headbands part of her character and that she was relieved that Disney listened to her opinion.

#5 Gabrielle Union

Source: Robino Salvatore / GC Images / Getty Images

Gabrielle Union used to write an essay for Glamour about the mistreatment of her hair on productions as an up-and-coming actor.“I was like a guinea pig on set, and I didn’t yet have enough power to request a stylist who I actually wanted to touch my hair,” she wrote. “It got to the point that I would pay to have my hair done before I got to work and pray they didn’t screw it up.", she described.

Source: Buena Vista Pictures

Union also said, “I realized very quickly that there were many people in hair and makeup trailers who were totally unqualified to do my hair. Hairstylists used Aqua Net–like hairspray with crazy amounts of alcohol, which caused chunks of my hair to literally come off on a styling tool.”
With her high profile now, Union can choose who does her hair on set, but she says it’s still difficult to find qualified people.

#6 Lamorne Morris

Source: Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images

Lamorne Morris revealed that while working on a production, the hairstylists asked him to deal with his own hair.

Source: Fox

“I would have to go to the barbershop at 4, 4:30 a.m. before set to get my hair cut,” he shared. “When I would get to set, I would see everyone else in the hair and makeup trailer getting their hair cut. When I asked why I couldn’t get my hair cut at work, it was because this is what they told me, they didn’t have the budget for my hair.”

#7 Dule Hill

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Dule Hill stated that he was asked to do his own hair on numerous productions because the stylists employed on the sets didn’t “know how to do hair that looked like mine."

#8 Meagan Good

Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for GLAAD

Meagan Good narrated how her forehead was burned by a hairstylist on a set.

Source: Sony Pictures Releasing

“When [the hairstylist] went to press my hair, he put a metal comb underneath the comb and that comb slipped out and the pressing comb basically burned my forehead and I had about five or six tooth marks on my face,” she revealed. "It was quite frustrating for someone to say that they knew how to do it and kind of use me as an experiment."

#9 Asia Jackson

Source: aasian

Asia Jackson shared the story about how she started styling her own hair after an incident where a stylist let her come to the set with her hair looking messy.

Source: aasian

“One time I literally rolled out of bed and showed up to set and the hairstylist looked at my hair and said ‘It’s great the way it is!’ and walked away,” she tweeted. “I literally appeared on camera with bed head. Since then, I’ve been styling my own hair.”

#10 Halle Berry

Source: Frazer Harrison / WireImage / Getty Images

Halle Berry was famous for her pixie cut at the beginning of her career. However, the reason she sported short hair was that she previously had negative experiences with Hollywood hairstylists.

Source: Steve Granitz / WireImage / Getty Images

“That’s why I had short hair,” said Berry. “[Maintaining] it was easy. I think as people of color, especially in the business, we haven’t always had people that know how to manage our hair."

#11 Taraji P. Henson

Source: Mike Coppola / Getty Images

Taraji P. Henson revealed an incident on a magazine shoot where a stylist who didn't know how to deal with black hair damaged hers with a root booster.

Source: Amy Sussman / FilmMagic / Getty Images

Henson asked for a new stylist, but was refused because that was considered "difficult." She has just brought in her own stylist and paid for it.

#12 Jurnee Smollett-Bell

Source: Roy Rochlin / WireImage / Getty Images

Jurnee Smollett-Bell once had to ask the director to hire a black stylist to do her hair while they were filming.
“In pre-production when we were creating a look for the hair, for me it was very important to bring a woman of color into the hair department to create the look for Black Canary. My hair, my texture, the kind of blonde we were going for…and I called her up and I said, ‘Honestly, Margot, it’s different. I need [hairstylist] Nikki Nelms and this is why I need her.’”

Source: Warner Bros. Pictures

Smollett-Bell added that the director didn't comprehend her request. However, the director changed her mind when hearing Smollett-Bell out, and gladly agreed to hire Nelms as her stylist.

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