Tracee Ellis Ross is getting to the root of her Black-ish hair journey.
The actress is opening up about how the famous ABC sitcom depicted Black hair, including a famous 2020 episode entitled "Hair Day." And although the season six episode premiered to largely positive reviews, Tracee exclusively shared with E! News that the story—in which Bo's daughter Diane (Marsai Martin) grapples with the decision to relax her hair—isn't one she would replicate.
"Honestly, that episode, Marsai and I had nothing to do with," she explained. "The writers did that. They plugged us into it. We didn't even know it was coming. It was a beautiful episode and it was wonderful, but it really had nothing to do with the kind of story I wanted to tell."
Tracee says Marsai, 18, felt the same way—which is something they discuss in Tracee's upcoming docuseries The Hair Tales, in which she interviews the young actress about her burgeoning journey with natural hair.
"We talk about that a little bit in our interview in Hair Tales, because it was actually a hard episode for Marsai and I," Tracee noted. "Because of some things that came up in the writing that didn't really match the kind of story that we necessarily wanted to tell."
Now, the Girlfriends alum is forging her own path in her six-part docuseries that celebrates Black women's hair and everything that comes with it—including style, culture and politics. Each episode in the series, which she made with Onyx and OWN, centers on a conversation between Ross and another starlet—in addition to Marsai, she'll chat with Oprah Winfrey, Issa Rae, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Chika and Chloe Bailey.
These nuanced conversations, Tracee says, are more along the lines of what she wanted to express all those years ago on Black-ish.
"This really is an expression of what I want to be sharing—the fullness," she added. "I hope Black women walk away feeling seen and loved."
The Hair Tales premieres Oct. 22 on Hulu.