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A viral Twitter thread is drawing attention to a pervasive problem Black women in the entertainment industry are facing when it comes to how their haircare is handled on set.

It features a collection of frankly shocking experiences from Black actresses including Monique Coleman (in the Noughties) and Trina McGee (back in the Nineties), but also indicates that the problem is still absolutely rife today.

The thread picks up on an Instagram post from Netflix star Tati Gabrielle who started the conversation this week when she revealed that she does her own hair on the set of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Her character Prudence is recognised for her distinctive ice white fingerwaves, which it turns out actress Tati spends hours creating herself in the trailer before shooting even begins.

Posting a timelapse video on her Instagram, she wrote:
"Everyone: “So who does Prudence’s hair?”
Me: "

While she hasn't confirmed whether she styles her own hair by choice or because of circumstance, it's sparked a huge debate on social media about how common it is for satisfactory styling, consideration or understanding of Black hair to be overlooked on movie and TV sets, or behind-the-scenes at runway shows.

Monique Coleman - the teenage star of High School Musical - recently gave an interview revealing that hairstylists did her hair 'very poorly' for the Disney film, leaving her no choice but to incorporate headbands into her character's look at the last minute.

"We’ve grown a lot in representation and we’ve grown a lot in terms of understanding the needs of an African American actress,” she told Insider, “but the truth is [the stylists] had done my hair and they had done it very poorly in the front. And we had to start filming before I had a chance to fix it.”

In the interview, she reveals that a lack of time and resources forced her to wear hairbands for filming and make it "part of" Taylor McKessie's signature image.

It comes just a few months after TV star Trina McGee said she was never even given access to a hairdresser during her time in Nineties show Boy Meets World.

"I didn't have a hairdresser," she said last July. "All those little micro braids you see, I stayed up all night doing them right before I went on national television for myself."

Even when there were stylists available, there appeared to be bigger problems on the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air for actress Karyn Parsons.

During her time playing Hilary Banks, Karyn began wearing wigs because professionals reportedly "fried her hair" until it broke it off using texturisers and wands every day.

The Twitter thread, which began doing the rounds from a user called Leo on Tuesday, indicates that Riverdale actresses Vanessa Morgan and Ashleigh Murray have also both spoken up about the situation in resurfaced tweets.

That's because it's not the first time the debate has raged within the entertainment industry.

Back in 2019, model Olivia Anakwe shared her backstage experiences at Paris Fashion Week, calling out the lack of available hairstylists with experience in afro hair care.

In an Instagram post, she wrote: "I arrived backstage where they planned to do cornrows, but not one person on the team knew how to do them without admitting so.

"After one lady attempted and pulled my edges relentlessly, I stood up to find a model who could possibly do it. After asking two models and then the lead/only nail stylist, she was then taken away from her job to do my hair.

"This is not okay. This will never be okay. This needs to change. No matter how small your team is, make sure you have one person that is competent at doing afro texture hair care OR just hire a black hairstylist! Black hairstylists are required to know how to do everyone’s hair, why does the same not apply to others?"

At the time, Community actress Yvette Nicole Brown echoed her frustration on Twitter, saying that it was a reality for Black actresses to bring their own wigs and clip-ins to set - or alternatively, arrive with their hair already done.

Tweeting in 2019, she wrote: "It’s either that or take a chance that you will look crazy on screen. Many of us also bring our own foundation. One too many times seeing no shade that matches you will learn ya!"

Elaborating on what it felt like, she also told The Hollywood Reporter: "There’s nothing (more) dehumanising than sitting in a make-up chair and watching your co-stars go through the works and leave, and you’re still there because someone’s moving very slowly because they’re scared. It’s (you) feeling like a problem to be solved.”

Two years after these stories circulated on social media, it's heartbreaking to see that the situation is still a reality for many.

At the time of writing, this most recent Twitter thread had been reposted over 67,000 times, indicating that thankfully there is strong support to highlight the problem in Hollywood.

In more positive news, the thread did point out that Halle Bailey will be getting her locs professionally styled for The Little Mermaid by the same hairstylist who worked on Dreamgirls and Black Panther, Camille Friend.

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