By Andie Hagemann
Disney Legend Tracee Ellis Ross, Michaela angela Davis, and Disney Legend Oprah Winfrey are going back to their roots in the new Hulu Original docuseries The Hair Tales from Disney’s Onyx Collective and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
“Michaela and I have been friends for over 20 years, and our friendship over those years has been anchored in style, justice, and joy,” shares Ross, who executive produces The Hair Tales along with Davis and Winfrey. “When Michaela brought this idea for us to develop together, it was really an evolution of us discovering something that we have loved this whole time, which is Black women. But it was a combination of us loving ourselves, loving the sisterhood that we come from, and wanting to see it represented in the world in a way that reflected what our experience has been.”
The Hair Tales uses the framework of telling a story through Black women’s hair because it seamlessly leads itself to historic and cultural themes. “We are our stories; that’s how humanity heals,” says Davis. “The storytelling is the queen of our show, and the hair is the leading lady.”
The docuseries uniquely approaches Black women’s hair from a source of power, instead of depicting it solely as a challenge or problem to solve. “We’re talking about in the layered way in which we live,” Davis says. “When we get to tell our own stories, we get to tell them inside the complexity in which we actually live, and not have to shapeshift around the narrow narratives that the culture constructed for us.”
Ross adds, “Like so many others, I can chronicle my journey of self-acceptance through my journey with my hair. I don’t think it was until I was a teenager that I started to face my own personal journey with my experiences with my hair [after] not seeing myself mirrored back through culture, media, newscasters, anyone. I saw it at home, but I didn’t see it out in the world. At the time, I took that personally, and really put that on my own self—that I wasn’t enough. As I got older, my own realization about myself was that I was one of many. I was part of a vast community—a vast culture of people who also weren’t seeing themselves.”
The award-winning actress, who portrayed Rainbow Johnson on the long-running hit ABC series black-ish, has herself become a beacon for Black hair, showcasing once taboo hairstyles on the screen and on the red carpet. “We are exploring, celebrating, and unpacking so much of the historical context of who we are and what our stories are as Black women in this country,” says Ross.
The docuseries highlights six iconic women—Issa Rae, Chlöe Bailey, Chika, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Marsai Martin, and Winfrey—alongside academic and cultural leaders, hair professionals, and influential contributors, including Esi Eggleston Bracey, Dr. Noliwe Rooks, Mickalene Thomas, and Meshell Ndegeocello. For Ross, moderating the series is new terrain for a multihyphenate such as herself, who has spent the past several decades in the interview seat.
“I love hearing people’s stories,” says Ross. “I love being a warm, receptive, safe space for people to tell their truth; it’s something I do in my own personal life. For Ayana, one of my favorite things I said was, ‘Teach me about your freedom. Teach me about your beauty.’ It was a wonderful experience and I really enjoyed it.”
Admits Ross, “Oprah told me I was good at it. She said in the middle of me talking to her, ‘You’re really good at this,’ and I said, ‘What? Did that get recorded?’”
The first two episodes of The Hair Tales will debut Saturday, October 22, on Hulu and air at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OWN.