A Warm and Earnest Hulu/OWN Docuseries

In the first few minutes of Hulu and OWN’s The Hair Tales, host Tracee Ellis Ross lays out her aims. “My hope is that these conversations that we have create more space for belonging and self-actualization,” she says. “It can feel like it’s just a conversation about hair. But it’s not. Especially not for Black women.”

“It never is,” her interview subject, Oprah Winfrey, agrees. And so it goes: Over six episodes, the docuseries invites Black women to discuss all things hair-related, from their individual memories to the decades or centuries of history leading up to them, to the idea of hair as a method of self-expression or a reflection of social change. If these talks prove Ross’ point that there’s always more to hair than just hair, however, they rarely probe as deeply as they could — resulting in a series that, for all its warmth and earnestness, falls somewhere short of truly revelatory.

That said, warmth and earnestness are worthwhile qualities of their own, and the show’s empathy stems from a refreshingly clear sense of perspective. With Ross and Winfrey among its executive producers, The Hair Tales is a series by Black women, for Black women, about Black women. Each 40something-minute installment is built around Ross’ sit-down with a celebrity and fleshed out by experts offering historical or cultural context in talking-head interviews, along with recurring segments set among ordinary salon-goers to approximate the communal experience of getting one’s hair done. And every single person featured onscreen is a Black woman.

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