Tisha Campbell has been acting for over three decades. The accomplished star knows a thing or two about Hollywood and the things that black actors have to put up with to have decent working experiences. One thing we hear black actors talk about all the time is how terrible hair and makeup can be for them. Makeup artists not having the right foundations, and hair people not knowing how to do black hair. Is it so bad that some people have left jobs completely due to them being ill-equipped to take care of black people. Tisha Campbell says she heard some terrible comments when walking away from set that made her lose complete faith in Hollywood hair and makeup people.
Tisha was catching up with fellow comedian Finesse Mitchell on his Podcast Understand This. While there, they talked about the various icons she’s played opposite from Eddie Murphy to Martin Lawrence to Damon Wayans. Her and Finesse were co-stars recently for the series Outmatched on FOX.
They began talking about hair fairly early on in the pod. Tisha, who was rocking braids, turned her camera to her wall of wigs behind her, saying she had “back up” in case they had a hair mishap. The pair then explained that this was their third attempt doing a podcast episode. The first one was completely lost, both audio and footage. For the second one, Tisha jokes that her wig cap was showing the entire video.
While they laugh it off, they then begin to talk about bad hair moments. Finesse laments about being asked to shave for auditions then not getting the role. He then brings up how poorly black people’s hair is sometimes portrayed in Hollywood and shouts out the production teams that get it right.
This reminded Tisha of why she has that wall of wigs behind her in the first place. Tisha says that all her wigs are for auditions, and she styles them according to the character breakdown. This was something she began early on in her career after a Hollywood hairstylist ruined her hair.
To make matters worst, Tisha recalls walking out of hair and makeup when she was the lead of a project. Still standing within earshot of her trailer, she heard the white hair stylist inside saying that she hated doing black people’s hair, and the reason why was truly disturbing.
“The reason why I started wearing all of these [wigs] over here was I was 18 years old, and I was on this set. I was working [and] I was one of the leads. I happened to get my hair done. There was no African American people in the hair and makeup department at all. So I stepped down off the trailer but I’m still standing by the door, and I hear her say, ‘I hate doing black people’s hair. It feels like pubic hair.'” According to Tisha, she has not trusted a hair and makeup team since and has opted for wigs.
The unfortunate occurrence is not unique to just Tisha, and maybe black women in Hollywood complain about being mistreated by the hair and makeup people so often times they bring their own to set.
