This New Video Series Explores Black Women’s Relationship With Hair

Black women's relationship with their hair is a complicated one. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't have a tear-jerking, getting-teased-because-of-their-locks memory, a horror story about getting her first perm, and/or a moment when she finally learned to embrace her natural texture. Now, there's a new video series helping to shed light on these emotional stories. Created by writer and cultural critic Michaela Angela Davis, Hair Tales is a collection of individual stories from stars and influencers like actresses Kim Coles, Regina King, and Tasha Smith, Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors, writer and producer Mara Brock Akil, and more. Whether women are opening up about their self-love journeys or recounting the moment they discovered the versatility of protective styles, these stories are unique, beautiful, and, most importantly, relatable.

Davis explains that the motivation for starting the project, which she refers to as the "Vagina Monologues for Black hair," stemmed from her own hair history. "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," she says. "Doing Hair Tales was mostly about love. I love Black hair, and I love our stories." In addition to spreading this positive message, Davis hopes the videos help to raise awareness. "Recently, there's been so much drama about Black hair and appropriation in pop culture, and there's no better way to bring understanding and information than by telling stories," she says. "There are so many non-Black women and people that don't know the full culture of our hair, so it's exciting to share these stories that are rarely told." The video series will run throughout March in honor of Women's History Month, and starts with Tasha Smith's hair story, which you can check out above.