*Writer and cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis has a new weekly webseries called “The Hair Tales,” that will highlight black women’s personal stories about their hair.
The creative team behind the series is made up entirely by women of color, and will feature prominent figures like actresses Regina King, Kim Coles, Tasha Smith (in the first video, below), as well as Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors and writer/producer Mara Brock Akil.
“I’m most inspired by the beauty, ingenuity, and creativity of Black women, and our hair is a metaphor for all of that.” Davis tells ELLE.com. “I knew this was a thing, like the Vagina Monologues but about our hair,” she says, “It’s full of drama, love, tension, oppression, history, liberation…all good story-making elements.”
In the premiere video for the series, Tasha Smith shares the hair journey and the techniques that worked for her hair after being “traumatized” from breakage and heat damage.
“One thing about black girl hair that I don’t think we always appreciate is that it is strong,” Smith said in the video. “I used to think that coarse hair was a negative thing like, ‘It’s nappy. My hair’s nappy.’ But no, I’ve grown to really love my hair and the strength within what I used to think was nappy hair when really, it’s just strong hair that can endure anything.”
Davis hopes her project will help better educate folks on the culture and business of black hair. The series also celebrates Madame C.J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in America who Black haircare products. Her legacy continues with a new line launching in Sephora this month.
“I’ve been obsessed with hair my whole life, partly because people were obsessed with my hair my whole life — the ‘otherness’ of it. It was kinky, yet it was blond; it caused both admiration and confusion,” said Davis. “Doing ‘The Hair Tales’ was mostly about love. I love black hair, and I love our stories.”
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