She’s a professional, prepared for everything except when it comes to the hair and makeup trailer.
But that’s a very new thing."
That’s discrimination."
Allure/Channing Smith
“She said, ‘Oh, I never let them touch my face.
They never have the right colors.’
So this actor became a qualified makeup artist trained underBobbi Brown.
Courtesy Angela Moore
I sat there dumbfounded because it was the first time I’d heard about this.”
“Professional hair and makeup artists are good at their jobs they want to be qualified.
We are determined to get rid of this issue in our industry.”
These best practices were released via bulletin and can beread here.
The AQPM did not respond to a request for comment.
Angela Moore has been a professional actor for over 25 years in film, TV, and theater.
Courtesy of Roxanne De Nobrega
The hair and makeup trailer is often known by performers as the best part of their day.
You get to go in there, and they’re taught to make you feel comfortable and pampered.
People also use that time to mentally prep, too.
You work on your lines.
But that’s the exception, that’s not the rule.
In the hair department, normally I’d have my hair prepared before going on set.
[Stylists] are very hesitant to deal with my hair.
They ask, “How do you normally wear it?”
That signals to me that they’re not doing my hair.
Or they’ll make me feel uncomfortable by saying something like, “Is that your real hair?”
or “There’s nothing we can do.”
That gives you a really negative feeling.
Recently I asked someone [in the hair and makeup trailer] for anedging brushto use along my hairline.
They had no idea what I was referring to.
It’s a basic tool the stylist had to dig through drawers to find [one.]
Its quite a basic thing, and I had to tell them how to do it.
Black hairinvolves a culture of hair that is different from the Eurocentric standard.
But that isn’t the reality for Black women.
If you’re playing a character over the course of several days, they will have several outfits.
There would most likely be several hairstyles in the story, as well.
It comes down to a lack of education.Hairstylists who go through schoolare not adequately prepared.
Lessons on how to work with different styles that African American or Canadian women use are quite limited.
Not all of them, but some of them.
It’s really quite detrimental for performers.
Mariah Inger has been an actor for over 30 years.
She is a director, producer, mentor to emerging marginalized artists.
Even five years ago, we weren’t talking about this.
At the beginning of my career, walking on set as a woman of color was a privilege.
It’s this big, beautiful, Hollywood world, and you’re grateful to be there.
It felt like it was my fault that it was complicated.
Have I experienced blatant racism, prejudice, and sexism on set?
But it’s not like every set I walked on were a bunch of horrible people.
You have to understand there are reasons you get your hair and makeup done by professionals.
Not only for lighting issues, but on a human level.
At first, I didn’t know how to speak out.
Was it just me?
Am I just being a diva?
I was always trying to question myself.
At first I didn’t know how to speak out.
Was it just me?
Am I just being a diva?
I was always trying to question myself.
I want people to be able to say, I don’t feel comfortable, safe, or respected.
Classism and racism have been ingrained in our colonized brains.
We’ve never offered them anything else.
So they do it automatically.
They don’t even know they’re doing it.
But we need these people to be licensed.
We can’t afford to hire an emerging person, it has to be a pro."
So is it the hairdressers fault she doesn’t know?
She went to school, taught herself, got unionized, and hired.
We are in conflict and I have to work with her for the next 10 days.
I feel disrespected and she feels insulted.
So we all stomp our feet and yell and feel hurt.
And then what happens?
It’s beyond the individual.
I’m not here to be angry, I am here to create change.
This grievance begins the conversation.
But I can guarantee you this problem will not be fixed in a year.
Walker(Netflix).
I went to makeup school to learn special effects and makeup for movies.
They did touch on Black skin in school.
They teach you the color wheel.
They give you two or three days of “ethnic makeup,” as they would call it.
When I went back to school, I was in my 30s.
Everyone else was 18.
There were only two Black students, another girl and me.
So they never really got Black models to come in to show the skin texture.
I don’t think I thought about [being only one of two Black students].
You’re always that only person.
We had all the different beauty lines.
I worked with everybody.
My thing was to get other skin tones in my chair, but also different skin textures and ages.
Different ages are the most exciting to me.
But to get a mature woman, that’s where your artistry comes in.
In that case, it was really, really good for me.
They know that I could relate to them immediately.
They won’t look gray or green.
That’s always a big fear.
Actors want to focus on their lines rather than worry about the makeup or costume.
Thats a really big distraction for them.
We have everything set up for them so they feel good.
We’re in the business of making people feel good.
Let’s put it that way.
Not just with the face.
The treatment, the way you speak to them.
You treat people with kindness when they sit in your chair.
To me, that’s the whole job.
It’s not just applying whatever coloring.
Its also a feeling.
That’s what we’re about.
At least, that’s how I operate.
You treat people with kindness when they sit in your chair.
To me, that’s the whole job.
It’s not just applying whatever coloring.
Its also a feeling.
Sometimes people are sitting in the chair, going over their lines while they’re getting their makeup done.
And they look in the mirror and they feel great.
They know, “Oh, I don’t look gray,” or “It’s matching.”
They actually were expecting something dark or lighter.
I think that’s great.
And with that, it’s creating more and more conversations.
I think people will then know that it’s very serious.
[People can] take makeup very lightly, but now this is a different thing.
This grievance will create more training for others who arent fortunate enough to work with deeper skin tones.
It’s just going to reawaken creativity and even out the playing field.
The union has very skilled makeup artists and hair artists who are capable of working with every skin tone.
We should not overlook that.
I just think there’s another step that requires training, and some people can sharpen their skills.
Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
