- Imani Hakim said that her natural hair was "taken care of" on the "Mythic Quest" set.
- The former child actor felt responsible for styling her hair on sets "far too many times."
Imani Hakim said that she always felt "taken care of" on the set of "Mythic Quest" when it came to stylists working with her natural hair.
On the Apple TV+ show, which returned for its third season on Friday, Hakim plays Dana, a game tester turned programmer who's working for GrimPop, a video game studio run by creative duo Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) and Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney). Hakim sports a different hairstyle in every episode of season three, and the actor told Insider that it felt "refreshing" to know she was in good hands.
"It's so important because it's a part of my DNA, and when I walk into a room and my natural curls and coils are sticking out of my head, I want someone to feel confident with working with me, and not that it's some foreign thing," Hakim told Insider.
"Too many times as actors, you don't have people in the field who are willing to learn how to do your hair or your makeup."
Numerous Black actors, models, and other creatives have spoken out about the difficulties of arriving on a set only to have stylists neglect, mess up, or damage their hair.
Willow Smith said in a September 2021 episode of "Red Table Talk" that she had to do her own hair at a "high fashion shoot" because the stylist didn't seem like they knew what they were doing. Monique Coleman, who played Taylor in the "High School Musical" films, told Insider that her character wore headbands because the film's crew had done her hair "very poorly in the front."
Not knowing whether you're in capable hands on a set takes an emotional toll. In January, "Euphoria" star Storm Reid told People that it "feels dehumanizing" to be on a set where stylists don't know how to "deal with Black hair." Heather Moradeyo, a TikTok creator, told Insider that she nearly burst into tears at London Queer Fashion Show when two white hairstylists failed to execute the same level of hairstyle on her as they did her white peers.
Hakim had previously posted a TikTok from the "Mythic Quest" set in April, saying that she felt "safe, secure, and taken care of" when she arrived on set "in my natural form."
@imanihakim #foryou #4chair #actor #mythicquest #blackhair #imanihakim ♬ original sound - Imani Hakim
"I don't have to feel scared, or I don't have to feel responsible to do my own hair," Hakim told Insider of her time on "Mythic Quest."
"Far too many times that has been the case," she continued. "And I think that everyone should be doing their due diligence if we're gonna have a very diverse cast."
The first two episodes of "Mythic Quest" season three are currently streaming on Apple TV+.