Black hair gets its moment on TV
Shows like ‘Insecure’, ‘Atlanta’ and ‘This Is Us’ have portrayed the versatility of natural hair
In Netflix’s Nappily Ever After, an advertising executive (Sanaa Lathan) impulsively shaves her head after a breakup, and finds freedom in embracing her natural beauty. But is the moment as empowering as it seems?
Nappily Ever After, is based on Trisha R Thomas’ 2000 book of the same name. A film adaptation of the novel, which spawned an eight-book series, had previously been in the works at Universal Pictures with Halle Berry attached to the lead role.
More subtle and authentic homages to black hair have arrived on the small screen in recent years. Beyond embracing natural styles, shows like Insecure, Atlanta and This Is Us have portrayed the versatility of black hair that hasn’t been chemically processed or damaged by heat.
One pivotal moment happened in 2014 on ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder.
Viola Davis, who plays defence attorney Annalise Keating, removed her make-up and took off her wig — a straight, brown style with honey-hued highlights — to reveal her kinky natural hair.
Comedian Phoebe Robinson called the scene “the single greatest moment in black women television history” in her 2016 book You Can’t Touch My Hair.
“This scene was so real, so honest, so raw, so everything because this is what a lot of black women look like when not in public. To present that to America was huge,” Robinson wrote.
The moment was also appreciated by one of Davis’ peers: Tracee Ellis Ross, who wrote about the scene’s importance in an essay that year for Entertainment Weekly.
“Our culture has created a very limited view of what beauty is and can be,” Ross wrote. “I think right now television is one of the places where women are pushing up against that and saying, ‘You know what? I don’t need to play this game anymore in order to be considered beautiful.’”
The black-ish star noted that “it’s huge” for her to be wearing her own hair natural on the ABC sitcom.
NBC’s This Is Us has also been praised for its authentic representation of black hair. As Beth Pearson, Susan Kelechi Watson wears a variety of natural styles, including braids, twists and curls. So do her and her husband, Randall’s (Sterling K Brown), on-screen daughters, Tess (Eris Baker), Annie (Faithe Herman) and Deja (Lyric Ross).
In an interview with Vulture last year, Watson said that NBC embraced her natural aesthetic early on.
“It’s my shout-out to black women, because for so long we’ve been told we have to look a certain way, or our hair has to be a certain way just to even be accepted or as a part of what is considered to be the American standard of beauty,” Watson told the site. “But you know, for all this, we just have a different texture hair, and there are beautiful things we could do with our hair.”
It’s not just network TV. Fans of HBO’s
Insecure have come to expect an array of natural hairstyles showcased by Issa (cocreator Issa Rae).
On FX’s Atlanta, Zazie Beetz wears her hair natural as Van, the ex-girlfriend of Donald Glover’s Earn Marks. Beetz’s very first scene featured her waking up next to Earn in a vibrant headscarf. As they discussed child-care plans, Van took down her voluminous curls, which had been twisted into Bantu knots. It’s wasn’t the focus of the scene — and that’s precisely what made it so powerful.
“So many women come up to me, like, ‘Oh my God, that’s me!” Beetz told Vogue. “That’s what has been wonderful about
Atlanta. It’s allowed me to celebrate my identity.” —