Curls On Camera

This week’s blog is all about the representation of natural hair in television and film.

What is natural hair?

According to Urban Dictionary, natural hair is when your hair has not been permed, dyed, relaxed, or chemically altered.

So, when do we see natural hair in television shows?

How to Get Away With Murder

How to Get Away With Murder is a murder mystery following a group of future lawyers and their professor Annalise Keating.

Annalise Keating typically wears a wig to teach her students, to go to court, and to do anything involving her professional career.

Later in the show, we see Annalise have a breakdown where she reveals her natural hair. Anytime Annalise is going through a life struggle, we see her natural hair. Once things get better, she puts her wig back on.

Scandal

Scandal follows Olivia Pope, a crisis communication specialist who protects has to protect her employees and clients from themselves and the outside world from lies.

For the majority of the show, Olivia Pope was never seen with a single piece of her straightened hair out of place. Until she’s kidnapped.

When Olivia is kidnapped, we see her natural hair. Of course, she’s been kidnapped so she can’t get her hair “done,” but why can’t we see her natural hair when she’s not in distress? This was the only time throughout the shows seven seasons.

I would've loved to see Olivia wear her curls to the White House.

Winx Club

Winx Club is an animated show about fairies discovering their powers.

This scene shows Aisha having a fit because her hair was not straightened. We see her friend touch her afro as if it’s an object and not her hair. Winx Club is a show for little kids and I imagine black girls enjoy watching the show.

Imagine the little black girl with a mini fro thinking something is wrong with her hair after watching this.

What messages are we sending to young black girls and black women about their natural hair?

1. Natural hair is unacceptable in professional settings.

2. If a black woman is wearing her natural hair, she must be going through something.

3. Straight hair is better than curly hair.

4. Natural hair, especially afros isn’t pretty.

I’ve struggled with my own natural hair. In the process of transitioning, I still consistently straightened my hair because I thought my hair would look bad if I didn’t. Today, I still struggle with how my hair should look on "important" days.

Should I wear my twists to this career event? Can I do a wash and go for this job interview? Is my puff too big? Will it look undone?

While white women were able to make messy buns into a trend, black women do not have the luxury of having a bad hair day turn into a trend.

As we saw in the shows I talked about, a black woman’s natural hair is a sign of us going through something. If I walk around with a messy bun, people are gonna ask me, “Is everything okay?”

Things that have been said to me when my hair wasn’t completely straightened.

1. “It looks nappy.”

2. “Have you tried putting XYZ products in it?”

3. “It’s like your rubbed your feet on a rug or got struck by lightning.”

4. “It looks scary.”

5. “Is that how you’re going out?”

Those comments make it hard for black women to get ready for school, work, and even family functions. For black women, it’s more than just hair. It’s our culture. It’s our identity. The Natural Hair Movement has fought for more education and acceptance for all forms of natural hair.

Natural hairstyles have been discriminated against in schools and jobs. That’s right, the hair that grows out of my head could cost me my education and a job. Any type of braids, locs, or afros are considered a distraction or unprofessional.

The representation of natural hair in media contributes to this. If people constantly see natural hair as unkempt or unprofessional on screen, then people won’t want to see that in professional settings.

Right now, The CROWN Act is a bill aimed to ban discrimination based on hair types in schools and in the workplace. As of July 2021, 12 states, including Virginia have passed The Crown Act.

So remember, it’s not “just hair.” Puffs, braids, locs, and afros are all appropriate for the workplace and for school. Natural hair is beautiful.

Come back next Monday morning at 11 to read the final blog for Unapologetic on Screen. See ya next week!