The Period Hairstyles in 'Dreaming Whilst Black' Are Both Highly Technical and Hugely Symbolic
Beauty
TSS Talent
Cynthia De La Rosa
Beauty
TSS Talent
Cynthia De La Rosa
What hair, wig and makeup designer Cynthia De La Rosa and her team pulled off for the show’s second season is nothing short of magnificent.
Hair and makeup designer Cynthia De La Rosa has been working her magic on “Dreaming Whilst Black” since the show’s origins as a YouTube series in 2018. A Bafta-winning pilot episode later, the show’s second season makes its way to BBC3 (in the UK) and Showtime/FX (in the US), giving the cast and crew an opportunity to showcase their talents to a larger audience. It also gave De La Rosa — whose background is in theater and who specializes in wigs and historical hairstyles — an unexpected chance to push her creativity to the max. (For those who haven't seen the show in its entirety yet, prepare for spoilers ahead.)
The second season of “Dreaming Whilst Black” sees its main character Kwabena (played by creator and co-writer of the show Adjani Salmon) land what he thinks is his dream job — directing a Regency-era drama with color-blind casting — in a time of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the UK. While from the outset, the “Sin and Subterfuge” production seems like a meaningful and earnest attempt to uplift people of color, it quickly descends into chaos, unveiling the studio’s progressive agenda is more about optics than truly elevating marginalized communities.
With Kwabena’s freeform locs morphing in shape depending on his mood, De La Rosa’s goal since day one on “Dreaming Whilst Black” was to highlight the beauty of Black hair. The insertion of a period TV show within a TV show in season two, however, offered a unique opportunity for the hair and makeup designer to not only show off the versatility of textured hair, but to use these historically inspired styles to reclaim the conversation around Black hair that began all the way back in the age of colonization.
Like with all her projects, De La Rosa did extensive research in preparation for the period scenes, which included both the filming of “Sin and Subterfuge” and Kwabena’s frequent daydreaming, whether that was him rehashing situations from everyday life or imagining himself in Dickensian England. But she didn’t limit herself to looking at British portraiture from that era (although that is where she found lots of references for the hair and accessories). “From the minute I heard we were doing period scenes, I said that I think Kwabena’s fantasies should be Afrocentric,” explains De La Rosa. “It should look the way that he imagines period hair for global-majority people; even if it's not 100% accurate because it doesn't matter, it's his fantasy of it.”
To do that, she tapped into the archives of Jamaican museums and looked at traditional tribal styles; for instance, the rolled locs on Vanessa (Kwabena’s ex-girlfriend, played by babirye Bukilwa) are loosely based on Yoruba Koroba braids. “I also looked at modern textures like locs, which didn't necessarily exist in Jamaica or in Nigeria in the Regency era, but are popular now. Then it’s kind of an amalgamation of period hairstyles with textured hair,” she explains. The end result is breathtakingly intricate and decorative styles that nod to Regency era Britain, but in shapes and textures that celebrate the actors’ African and Caribbean heritages.
Vanessa's rolled loc extensions on set. Photo: Cynthia De La Rosa.
The realities of filming schedules meant that many of the period hairstyles utilized faux pieces that could be incorporated into the actors’ real hair. Purchasing human hair bundles from British brand Ruka and American company His and Her, De La Rosa and her team made every piece from scratch, a task that included transforming some of those extensions into locs. “We were knitting the locs on set while we were watching the monitors and taking care of the actors on set,” she says.
Transforming Salmon’s long, freeform locs into a period style presented a unique challenge for De La Rosa. “It’s hard to wig somebody with locs because the texture doesn’t condense in the same ways as a curl, so we really had to think outside the box when we were doing some of these period looks for him.” Her solution? Constructing a sock-like piece out of human hair extensions that would cover his locs. “Then, we built a late-Georgian/early Regency silhouette on top, adding those traditional rolls on the side, as well as traditional African-style braids.”
Every single one of the elaborate hair accessories worn by Vanessa and her girlfriends in episode three was also handmade by De La Rosa and her team, and held special meaning for each of the characters wearing them. Taking modern pieces, the team broke them apart and reconstructed them into Regency-style accessories, incorporating precious metals and stones found in the Caribbean and Africa. Coral-shaped adornments are a reference to Nigerian coral, while the gold flowers recall the different countries where each character is from. “I did a lot of research and wanted to have some duck eggs hidden in their hair as to their heritage,” says De La Rosa.
In addition to the hair jewelry, Vanessa’s friend Dami (played by Eshe Ashate) wears a tignon, a traditional head covering Black women in Louisiana were forced to wear by their Spanish colonizers in the 1700s. “In my research, I found that the Europeans believed textured hair was like voodoo or magic and that it enticed men, so Black women either had to wear their hair in a European-like style or hide their hair with a tignon,” explains De La Rosa.
The tignon, which appears again in episode six, is brightly colored and boldly patterned. Dami’s braids are beautifully adorned and arranged around the turban, which is then topped with an oversized straw hat. “When women were forced to wear tignons, they often were like, well fine, f*ck you, I’m going to pick the brightest piece of fabric and I'm gonna build my hair up underneath it so that it holds my hat at an angle and becomes even more prominent.” The drama of it all was intentional for De LaRosa, especially for a show where its characters are navigating a world that’s not necessarily set up to support them, but who, despite all that, demand a seat at the table — whether that’s in the entertainment industry or a children’s nursery school. “I think when for generations and generations you have been limited by the way that society approaches your hair, this is how you express yourself,” says De La Rosa. “This is how you take up space.”
