TV's Most Memorable Natural Hair Moments

For the longest time, our natural hair was not something that was embraced by the media. On television and in the workplace, Black women’s natural hair has often been seen as unprofessional. Many Black women on television were often seen rocking wigs, braids, and straight hair for years, leaving little to no representation for natural hair on television.

Many Black women on television have reporting feeling pressured to change their hair to fit a certain beauty standard, hence them straightening their hair and wearing wigs on television. Tighter curl patterns were also not historically embraced. Looser curl patterns were typically shown more on television than kinkier and coily hair patterns.

Another issue is that a lot of Black actresses have had to do their own hair on the set of television shows and movies, despite the production company hiring hairdressers. This is because many of the hairstylists these companies hired were not skilled in working with multicultural hair types. Due to this, many Black actresses were left to do their own hair and opted for braids, wigs, or straightened natural hair.

While the entertainment industry, and society as a whole, have come a long way in accepting our natural hair, there is still some work that needs to be done to ensure that all hair textures are represented accurately. Here are some of our favorite television shows that have embraced natural hair.