#4 CURLY HAIR STRUGGLES ON SET WITH ACTOR AND FILMMAKER FOLA EVANS-AKINGBOLA

Texture Talks

Fola Evans-Akingbola is both a critically acclaimed actor and activist for the rights of her community. As a curly haired woman of color working in film and TV Fola, has been forced to experience feelings of frustration and isolation simply due to having a curlier hair texture than her straighter haired colleagues on set.

From constantly having to guide and direct stylists on how to simply do their jobs due to their lack of experience with her curl pattern to have to go as far as to create her own ‘how to’ video to guide ‘professionals’ on set to avoid any mistakes or damage to her natural hair, Fola, much like many of her peers, has frequently had to invest time, energy and resources into making sure her hair is properly cared for when she should be focussing on the role she's been hired to play.

As a result, Fola created an incredible documentary, Untold Stories: Hair on Set, to highlight these issues, allowing a range of male and female creatives in her space to be able to speak their truths, helping raise awareness and bring this discrimination to an end.
I talk to Fola about her reasons for creating the documentary, some of the stand out moments for her on her hair care journey, and look forward to what needs to change in order for the incredible work she initiated with her documentary to continue.
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