Untangling Identity: The Story Behind Detangling the Stigma

ENTERTAINMENT INTERVIEW | HEALTH

Written by Nabeelah Khan (she/her) | @nabeelahkhann | Contributing Writer

A five-year-old is sat in the front row of her school class photo. She gazes into the camera with a mischievous glint and a wide, toothy grin. Her brown skin shines. Her hair is straightened—chemically straightened—hair that matches her peers but hair that isn’t her own. 

“That’s when I was first introduced to the idea that my hair was a problem—because I had to straighten it,” says Jzayla Hughey, director of Detangling the Stigma, as she addresses the audience in her documentary.

Detangling The Stigma was selected from 60 applications for Series 8 of the Day One Shorts initiative. The documentary explores the challenges faced by the Afro community in Aotearoa while navigating a society that often pressures them to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards.

The crisp end-of-winter breeze bites the air in Albert Park as we search for a dry bench to sit on. The producer of Detangling The Stigma, Jennifer Onyeiwu, wears long braids that are styled half-up, the rest cascading over her shoulders and back. She holds a takeaway cup of tea in her hand, taking occasional sips to keep warm. Appearing on Jennifer’s laptop screen from Seville, Spain, Jzayla Hughey’s image is pixelated. But I can still see her bubbly expression and her curly hair which is pulled back into a low bun.

The roots for Detangling The Stigma grew from Hughey pitching the documentary for her university scriptwriting class. Initially, the story wasn’t personal as she based it on a friend's experience with Afro-textured hair. 

“I pitched this story, but I was using a friend of mine, so it wasn't my backstory,” Hughey explains. “After I pitched it to the class, that’s when I thought, ‘Oh, this could become something.’” 

Hughey’s tutor suggested she take Detangling The Stigma to the Day One Stories initiative. After consulting with Day One Shorts, Hughey was encouraged to make the story more personal by drawing from her own experiences. Although the suggestion felt daunting at first—opening up about her vulnerability—Hughey knew that reshaping the script to reflect her journey would be the key to advancing in the Day One Shorts initiative.

After revising her pitch, Detangling The Stigma was chosen as one of eight short films to receive funding and production support from Day One Stories.

Once the funding was secured, the real challenges began—navigating the hurdles that came with bringing the documentary to life. 

Producer Onyeiwu acknowledges that timing was one of the key challenges during the filming process. With a playful eye roll, she adds, “Finding locations is always such a dream. You get something locked, and then you're like, ‘Oh no, it's not locked, that's okay. We need to find somewhere else.’” 

Despite the frustration, Onyeiwu reflects on the process with resilience, calling those minor setbacks “huge learning experiences” that helped shape the project.

Hughey reflects on how her own experiences have influenced her work. “For a lot of people with Afro-textured hair, the negative stigma starts early. For me, it began when I was five and just starting school. The uniform rules were strict—no Afros, no braids. I had to straighten my hair.”

She notes that this pressure to conform doesn’t fade with age. “This idea that our hair is a problem starts as early as five and carries through into adulthood, especially since straight hair has been pushed as the beauty standard. When I started my first professional job, I was told I needed to slick my hair back.”

“There were constant pressures to change my hair or alter my natural self, just to fit in with what everyone else was doing,” She adds. 

Onyeiwu reflects on an uncomfortable moment from her university days, one that still lingers in her memory. At the time, Onyeiwu was frequently wearing clip-in weaves to make her hair look straight. “One day, I didn’t have them in, and a friend saw my natural hair for the first time. I had straightened it a little, but it wasn’t fully straight,” she recalls. 

Her friend’s reaction caught her off guard. “She touched my hair and said, ‘Oh my gosh, it feels like a carpet!’”

Onyeiwu grimaces, recalling the embarrassment and shame she felt. “The word ‘carpet’—that’s not what you want to hear when someone is talking about something attached to you.”

For Onyeiwu, having Afro-textured hair has not only made her feel different on a personal level but has also impacted her experience in the workplace. 

Reflecting on her career in the film industry as an actor, an already emotionally taxing industry, Onyeiwu opens up about the anxiety that comes with stepping onto a set, knowing that she may have to do her own hair. “A lot of times when I step on set as an actor of colour, there's a lot of mental preparation that I have to do with my hair because you never know who's going to be in the hair department and the makeup department,” she explains.

This added burden not only creates a double standard but also adds extra pressure. While other actors can focus solely on their roles, Onyeiwu has the additional task of managing her hair. This imbalance highlights a broader issue in the industry: many makeup and hair stylists lack the training to work with Afro-textured hair, leaving actors like Onyeiwu with fewer resources and less support.

Onyeiwu points out that this gap in knowledge isn’t limited to New Zealand. “There are still certificates that don’t include Afro-textured hair,” she notes. “In the UK, the National Occupational Standards for hairdressing only began including Afro hair in 2021. That’s recent. When you compare that to somewhere like Aotearoa, where there’s growing diversity, it shows how much further we still have to go.”

Detangling the Stigma weaves in snippets of archival footage, including a flashback of a young Hughey standing on a train platform. Her face, identical to the one I see on Onyeiwu’s screen during the interview, carries the same expression, though this younger version wears long, chemically straightened hair instead of her natural afro. 

“There’s been this lifelong pressure to be someone I’m not,” Hughey says in the documentary, her voice breaking as tears stream down her face. “When you’re forced to hide your natural self for so long, people don’t realise what that does to a person.” 

Through heartfelt interviews, Detangling The Stigma captures the trials and triumphs of individuals on their journey toward hair acceptance. The documentary’s cinematography is notable for its soft lightness, adding a dreamlike quality to the narrative.

Inspirations behind Detangling the Stigma included visual influences from singer Solange’s work. Onyeiwu recalls the moment she first saw Hughey’s director’s treatment, “Hughey did something incredibly amazing—her director's treatment was stunning. It was feminine, it was beautiful, and she put a lot of work into it.”

Onyeiwu adds, “There was this incredible mood board, and as soon as I read it, I could see the vision. One thing that stuck with me was how she drew inspiration from Solange’s music videos. I remember thinking, ‘I’m seeing the strength, the femininity, and the Blackness.’” 

At its heart, Detangling The Stigma is a story of self-acceptance and authenticity. The film reflects the delicate balance between the pain of hiding one’s identity and the joy of reclaiming it. Hughey echoes this sentiment, “While the documentary focuses on hair and encouraging people to embrace diverse hair types, it’s really about embracing and being proud of your natural self—without feeling the need to change anything about who you are or your culture just to fit in.”

As the Afro community in Aotearoa continues to grapple with the pressures of conforming to Eurocentric beauty standards, Detangling the Stigma offers a hopeful vision of a future where diversity is not only acknowledged but celebrated.

Detangling The Stigma from Day One Shorts 2024 is free to view on the Day One website, as well as YouTube, Whakaata Maori and RNZ online.