Storm Reid called out Hollywood for its lack of stylists educated about Black hair
There’s been a trend moving through Hollywood recently that’s seen a number of celebrities default to their natural hair texture.
But according to an interview with People, Euphoria actress Storm Reid found that when it comes to styling Black hair, natural hair or curly hair on-set, the industry has been slow to get with the times.
"They really just don't understand Black hair care. It's disheartening and it's heartbreaking," the actress explained to the publication.
The now 18-year-old has been acting for the past 10 years, and while she may have had positive experiences working on sets like A Wrinkle In Time and Euphoria, that hasn’t always been the case.
"It has been a struggle for me specifically on sets when it comes to the hair disparity and people not just knowing how to deal with Black hair," Reid explained.
“It feels dehumanising… when it's the time for your hair to look nice and there's nobody on set to be able to help you achieve that."
But Kim Kimble (the dedicated hairstylist on the A Wrinkle In Time set) helped to cure Reid’s phobia of the hair and makeup trailer, and subsequently empowered her to be more vocal on future projects.
“I think that changed my life [and] it changed the way I saw that we can have these Black department heads really be there and take care of you," the actress explained to People.
"From that point on, unless I have braids and I know how to take care of them myself, I've requested on every set to have someone,” Reid went on to say. “Whether they're the department head or not, [I want someone] who understands my hair, that cares about Black hair care, that is actually listening to me."
Reid has taken her interest in Black hair education one step further by partnering with Black haircare brand Dark & Lovely on their Building Beautiful Futures initiative. It’s a campaign which seeks to provide young Black female professionals with equal opportunity through mentorship programs and career coaching.
When Reid’s not challenging the status quo, the Euphoria actress can be seen spearheading new beauty trends on the red carpet. She’s a pioneer of the pearl makeup trend that’s taking over 2022.
Main image credit: Getty
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
