In the latest episode of “Red Table Talk,” Willow Smith recalled being at a high fashion photoshoot where the stylists didn’t know how to do her hair.
The singer said that the stylists didn’t know how to work with Black hair.
“All of the white models were getting their hair done and they all had somebody. The person that was supposed to do my hair came, looked at it, and tried to do something to it, tried to touch it,” shared Smith.
“I could tell they were extremely perturbed,” she said. “I could tell they were just like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing,'” she added.
She went on to say that the stylist’s confusion and lack of expertise with Black hair made her “take the reins” on her styling.
“I basically did my own hair for that really high fashion shoot. That should never be happening,” said the 20-year-old singer.
She went on to say that that wasn’t the first time she attended a shoot where stylists didn’t know how to work with her hair.
“Even at another high fashion shoot for a completely different thing, I was in the room and they straight up said, ‘Is her hair just a little too difficult to do that specific thing?'” she recalled.
Willow Smith isn’t the only Black woman in the entertainment business who has spoken out about Hollywood’s lack of expertise when it comes to working with Black hair.
Actresses such as Gabrielle Union of “Bring it On” and Tati Gabrielle of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” have talked about stylists not knowing how to work with their hair while on set or at photoshoots and having to take matters into their own hands.
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