HSM : Monique Coleman reveals that the crew didn't know how to style black hair

[hewontgo]

Monique Coleman reveals her 'High School Musical' character wore headbands because the crew didn't know how to style Black hair https://t.co/sXz2HuKpcT
- Entertainment Insider (@EntInsider) January 26, 2021
Monique Coleman, 40, came up with the idea for her character Taylor McKessie to wear a variety of headbands in the 2006 movie because the crew

Comments

[juunanagou18]

amazing how black folks can work with damn near any hair type (i say damn near because...we've come a long way, too, lbr), but white people can't handle anything above 2A and see nothing wrong with that.

[genbu_no_miko24]

It is kinda ridic cause it's like "what did you go to beauty school for?" but then the problem starts right there.

[juunanagou18]

yep! i went to a trade school at the same time as HS and it was just amazing how they had all the students, no matter the color, working on straight-haired, white mannequin heads.

i remember wanting these thick, beachy waves (sorta how sza wore her hair at the beginning) for my senior picture and thought it would be easy to just walk in and ask for them. i already had thick, curly hair, how hard could it be? that stylist told me she'd have to straighten it and texturize it and i was like??? you can just use some old-school curlers?? maybe it was my ignorance showing but i really don't think i needed to go through all of that.

[genbu_no_miko24]

Yeah same. I would notice the beauty courses would ONLY have white mannequin heads with straight hair. I don't remember seeing anything remotely afro-textured.

[patchsassy]

Yup. I have 3C hair and the number of beauticians who are just flummoxed at my hair....yes, it's hella curly and there's a crapload of it. Please just don't give me an asymmetrical haircut, I beg of you....

*walks out of salon with one side of hair 2 inches longer than the other, due to shrinkage*

[genbu_no_miko24]

Yeah I got 3A/3B hair so the few times I've had white hairdressers do my hair the issue is usually in the products they don't use...which is actually very simple lol.

I usually get my hair done by Dominicans so I don't have issues mostly.

[patchsassy]

I've just started hauling a tote bag with my products in when I get my hair done. Before that, my hair always looked so bad when I left the salon because they did not use my products and my hair had a freakout.

[burntxtoashes]

i'm not sure how it works elsewhere, but i know in the UK for hairdresser training, you had to bring in your own models (i only lasted like 2 months cos i sucked at it lol). i think part of the problem with that is a lot of people would bring in family, so would only be working on the same hair texture a lot of the time. (i also live in a predominantly white area though)

[genbu_no_miko24]

Yeah I follow a UK movie hairstylist on IG and she seems to be now honing her skills when it come to black hair.

[frankthesheep]

BECTU the entertainment union here was really pushing for white people to take courses on black hair and make up.

[sabrina54]

I once went to a hair salon and when I took my hijab off the stylist and what I assumed was the owner said they could do my hair and it's a 3B! I was in high school but looking back I wish I'd have gone off on their ass. Most white hair stylist are talentless pos and nobody can tell me otherwise

[wiedemauchsei]

Honestly I swear white people are unable to work with ANY kind of curly hair. Just useless

[patchsassy]

The only white hairstylist who has been able to tackle my hair had curly hair herself.

[anolinde]

(White here fyi) they literally can't lol, I have to assume they don't even teach it in hairstyling school or w/e. If you want a "curly" haircut (aka a haircut that doesn't look like shit, forget about it looking good), that's gonna be a special "Deva Cut" that'll cost you $75 minimum because the stylist had to take extra classes to learn it!!

[adrock]

yep. i've worked in salons and we would always need a list on/at the desk of stylists who could cut curly hair (and it was never more than 5, and they always worked opposite shifts) because we couldn't put curly clients with anyone else

[cityofships]

Can confirm. My friend is white af - like, celtic white - and has thick red curls and I have seen her leave a salon looking good a grand total of once. Istg they only want to deal with fine, straight hair.

And then I assume unconscious / absolutely conscious racism just adds to the shitty experience if you the customer is also black.