DTH Mag Vol 5 - Flipbook - Page 26
For as long as I can remember, my hair had been
relaxed. I'll never forget the moment that I
figured out that my hair was curly. It was when I
started being responsible for the upkeep of my
hair, like getting my relaxer. I don't remember
what I used my money on, but I didn't buy the
relaxer. And I was just like, whatever, I don't
care. I remember the first day I went to put gel in
my hair and put my hair back, I was like, my
hair's curly. I had no idea! I didn't know that my
hair was curly until I was in high school. I had
never gone without a relaxer until I was in high
school. I just started letting my hair grow out,
and it broke off.
Then I got into television, and they want you to
wear wigs. They started putting wig clips in my
hair. When I first got on Glee, they didn't have
anybody that knew Black hair at all. And so I
remember I wanted to wear my hair for one of
our gallery shoots. I remember the head of the
hair department told me at the time that it would
just be easier if I wore a wig; it would just be
easier for them if I wore a wig, which made me
feel like complete shit. That makes you feel like
your hair is an issue and your hair is a problem.
And so I remember telling them you guys need to
find someone who knows how to deal with Black
hair. And it was such a thing.
It was relaxed, pressed out, or you just look
crazy. Now, since the natural hair movement
and YouTube have come out, educating you
on how to take care of your hair is great. I
embrace it a lot more.
Do you think the industry9s perspective on
natural hair has changed?
I don't know if it's necessarily changed. I don't
think many people know that to bring hair
[stylists] and makeup [artists] on set, they have to
be in the union. And the union is very cliquish,
and they don't let many people in. And so a lot
of Black women just opt to wear wigs because
they don't want anyone [not educated on their
hair] ruining their hair. Or they9ll do weaves or
do their hair.
The beauty about our hair is it9s as unique as the
person. Do you have favorites, or do you like to try
anything?
I'm definitely in the 8I will try anything9 camp. I
love trying things. I'm a product junkie, and I
admit I'm terrible. I love trying new products,
hair products, and unknown products. I know
what works for my hair, so I stay in a particular
vein of ingredients. Otherwise, yeah, I'm a
product junkie for sure.
They ended up getting somebody there who
could do my hair because the wigs were taking
my edges out because of all the tension I was
dealing with in the dancing. To this day, my
edges in the front are still really paying. I
suffered a lot of hair damage on that show, so
when I wear my natural hair, I usually wear it
with bangs because I don't want to pull it back
into ponytails because it's fragile.