What Harper’s Hairstyles Say About Her on INDUSTRY

(This article first appeared in our monthly POPCORN FOR DINNER Newsletter, please subscribe here to receive future issues)

Yes, you’ve read that title correctly. That is exactly what we’re doing. We are going to use hair to discuss one of the most divisive, and frankly, probably the last great anti-hero on TV. Is it a dumb idea? Maybe. Is it fun? Hopefully. Are those the exact types of ideas that this newsletter is built for? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Obviously, massive spoilers for Seasons 1 & 2 of INDUSTRY

Let’s Talk About Hair, Baby

Whenever I present an idea, my intention is for more than one person to convince me that it’s insane and not worth doing. Clearly, as you are reading this, that was not the case this time. Was that because I only broached it with people I knew would be on board? Who can say. What I can say, though, is that the more I thought about this idea, the more I felt like the reluctant last-minute participant in a heist film commenting on the half-baked plan: “it’s crazy, but it might just be crazy enough to work”.

Filmmaking is a wide umbrella that houses so many little decisions. Many of these decisions may seem unimportant in isolation, but in reality, they help to build the tapestry that is our eventual understanding of the character, the world, and the story. So how does hair come into it? Well, like everything interesting in the world of TV, it’s less about the hair and more about the character’s thought processes behind each decision. Being follicly challenged myself, and a man no less, I was not about to embark on this alone. So I reached out to the only other person willing to psychoanalyse a fictional character, and despite already hanging up her psychologist notepad, Priscilla was more than ready to jump on this in(s)ane expedition with me.

Firstly though, we had to examine just why the internet is so split on Harper as a character. Priscilla, unashamedly, reiterated that she’ll always support women’s rights…and wrongs. “She (Harper) is a mad woman, but she’s my mad woman, and I respect it…From that first episode, she got me. I knew she was a little crackhead, but I also knew that she got me.” Putting it even more simply, she explained, “no one on that show is morally good, they are all corrupt so you just have to find your favourite corrupt person and you stick with them…I like seeing bad people get away with things.”

Bankole: Okay, so what I’m not going to do is describe Harper’s hairstyles when you are here. So let’s start with the Season 1 look, how would you describe that?

Priscilla: The braids. It was giving ‘first job in the office’, low maintenance; even though braids are high maintenance. It was giving: “I just want to wake up in the morning, put my hair up and go” She’s like “I’m a woman ready to work.”

B: What did that…? You’ve already explained some of the reasons why she might have chosen that hairstyle, but for you, what does that say about where she is in season one? Because, as an American coming to live and work in the UK, it’s impossible not to have a bit of imposter syndrome when you’re doing that, but then, importantly, she is actually a fraud. So how do you think that informs her choice to, from what you just said, go for the low-maintenance hairstyle and the ‘I’m just here to work’ mindset?

P: Okay, it depends. If I go fully psychoanalyst on this –

B: Let’s do it, let’s do it.

P: — and I’m pretending I’m a psychologist again.

B: That’s why we’re here.

P: When you’re doing your hair in braids, especially for me because I did it a lot when I was (working) in mental health, you’re in the state of mind where you’re like I haven’t got time to gel and slick back my hair or straighten my hair… I haven’t got the time to do that because I’m going to be at work constantly…

B: Mm-hmm.

P: …and she’s come from a different country. So there are a few different things. A, she probably doesn’t trust a hair braider in this country (UK), so she’s done her hair over there (US) and then immediately come over. If you notice in the first episode, these are not old braids — it’s giving her head is hurting when she’s going to sleep — and the important second element is the fact that she probably just wants to get in and do her job. She doesn’t want to have any of the faff of waking up at about five o’clock in the morning to slick her hair back and get ready for how she wants to look in the office. She’s probably thinking I want every waking minute to be about me doing my job, especially with the fact that she knows she’s a fraud

B: Mm-hmm.

P: So she has to work 10 times harder than everyone else because everyone else is there based on whether they’ve got connections or they’ve done well. (But) she’s a fraud. So she’s now thinking: “A, I have to work hard anyways because I’m mixed race. B, I have to work hard just because I’m a graduate and C, I’m American, so no one’s going to take me seriously”

B: laughs, but not in a xenophobic way

P: And then lastly, “I have to work 10 times harder than everyone else because I’m lying”. So she’s probably thinking, I haven’t got time to do this hair mishmash stuff.

B: Hmm

P: Or even if she wanted to just put her hair up like how she did in season two, she hasn’t got time to do that. Every waking minute needs to be about upholding these falsehoods that she’s been feeding to everyone.

B: In your opinion, do you think her doing the braids, coming into London… How do I put this?… Does that establish and put her blackness front and center or does it help to kind of hide it in the background?

P: Oh that’s a good question you know, I’m trying to think now um maybe emphasizing her blackness maybe

B: Hmm

P: I think it depends. Do you know what? It always depends on the person, because I’ll give you an example — it’s a mad example — Kemi Badenoch is from this country (UK) and she does have her hair in braids, but she has no particular views of blackness that me and you agree with, but she does her hair in braids in the workplace.

B: Hmm.

P: How long she has them in is a different conversation (laughs) but like she does her hair in braids whereas in Harper’s situation, I don’t think she’s even thinking about her blackness, you know? I think in Harper’s mind, her Americanness comes before her blackness, if that makes any sense.

B: No, that makes a lot of sense, it’s very fair. I think, I mean, everyone knows I love this show, that’s not groundbreaking news. But the first time I watched the first few episodes of Season 1, I remember thinking that my problem with Harper was that she felt like a black woman being written by a white man or white men. At this point I didn’t know who the writers were, it was just that a lot of things she said –

P: Mmm.

B: It didn’t, at least in the early part of the season, it didn’t feel natural? I guess that could be a way to put it. Obviously, as the episodes went on and you kind of realized, like again, her fraudness, or some of her insecurities, all of that kind of made sense. But to me, at the start, she never felt like someone that was written by a black man or even more importantly, a black woman. That was the only reason I asked that blackness question, because consciously or subconsciously, what does that character, and in turn the writers writing that character what do they mean when they give her braids coming in?

P: Yeah, I agree. To piggyback on what you were saying, I’m trying to compare it to someone who’s black on television. When I watched Michaela Coel’s recent program, I MAY DESTROY YOU with her and Paapa (Essiedu) and all the people on it, it felt like black and mixed-race people being written by a black woman and with Harper — I rooted for her in season one don’t get it twisted — but I did feel like there was a bit of a disconnect there but then I don’t know if it was that way on purpose

B: Yeah, exactly.

P: Now, knowing what one of the ​co-creators (Mickey Down) looks like and he’s not the type…you know, he’s not a coon, so I wonder if it’s a case of her not thinking of herself as that; as black in the workplace. Which is true, you do get some people in that field — not everyone, before they shoot me — who think like that. It always felt like her Americanness always came first for her. To the point where I’m like, girl, you’re mixed race, is this not a full thought process in your head? But clearly, it wasn’t. So, yeah, I completely agree but it seemed like a purposeful writing choice that then made sense in Season 2.

B: Yeah. So let’s talk about season two. How would you describe her general, more natural look?

P: Her hair being out (in season 2) was an interesting choice. I found it fascinating that her hair was out for most of it. I think I quite like the bun.

B: Why did you find that fascinating?

P: I thought it was very interesting. You could tell that, and this will sound mad, the braids were holding in the facade. The lie is out now. So she’s like I can, you know, I can sort of spend the time doing my hair. I guess it depends on her hair type, but from what her hair looks like, it’ll take her a minute. So it seems to be that she doesn’t really care anymore and she can take the time to do her hair in the morning because she’s like I don’t need to lie anymore. The braids were like putting a character on. The character’s now gone because most people know the truth now, or at least the most important person (Eric). So it’s like, okay, I can now reveal my true self.

B: Exactly. And aligned with that, we know that in season two, she’s a lot more confident and she has a lot more money now, as opposed to season one.

P: Yep.

B: She’s been working from home (a hotel) for a year. So I guess all of that kind of leads into that decision, to what you’re saying; she has the time now, she feels like less of a fraud.

P: Yeah. And I think having money is a big thing. I feel like when you have money — anyone generally — when you have your payday and the paycheque hits your account, you feel like a millionaire, especially when you’re financially comfortable. Like I’m not talking about if you’re living, which most people are, from paycheque to paycheque.

B: Yeah

P: but if you’re living comfortably and you can afford the odd holiday, you can afford these things you couldn’t afford before, it makes you more confident within yourself which allows you to take care of your appearance better, not that the braids aren’t taking care of yourself but I think the braids signified, as I mentioned earlier, the fact that she wanted a low maintenance hairstyle and she didn’t want to waste time. Whereas now, she’s in a state of comfortability where she’s like, oh, I can do braids if I want to, but then I can always have my hair out, or I can spend the time doing this or that.

B: So she has two versions of the bun. She has the smaller one, which she kind of wore at work or for work events, and then she has the larger, bigger bun that was kind of like the more relaxed look. Is that how you read it? Is one for home and relaxing and the other is like the work look?

P: Do you know what’s mad?

B: Or is it just how she’s feeling that morning?

P: It just seems to be how she’s feeling that morning. The one that she’s wearing at work, she’s probably blow-dried her hair and got into a nice quick bun. Whereas the one where she’s at home, she’s taken more time with it. She has more time to do her hair. It’s a little bit of a cream or gel in there and she slicked it back and she’s not blow-dried it.

That’s her hair in its natural state. So the ones at work are all blow-dried. She’s taking time in the morning to blow dry her hair and then pack it away. The ones where she’s at home, that’s like I’ve washed my hair, let me slick it back. Because if you look at the actual ponytail bit, yeah it’s her hair in its natural state.

B: Fair enough

P: But you’re right, it’s a relaxed hairstyle.

B: Can we talk about my favorite look that she has ever had?

P: Yeah

B: Which is her hair at Rishi’s wedding

P: Yes!

B: I love it. I think Eyo and I just gushed about it for like 10 minutes on the finale podcast​.

P: It’s so good. This is my favorite hair from her. She blow-dried her hair and put a side parting. But she blow-dried it enough for it to be like dry, but it’s not pin-straight. She didn’t straighten her hair, she just blow-dried it, did a little side parting and just let it rest naturally. She didn’t manipulate the hair (obviously blow drying is manipulating the hair)

B: Obviously

P: but there was no other manipulation other than the blow drying. And she looked stunning. She looked stunning.

B: She looked so good. Okay, so that takes us to season three.

P: Yeah

B: So going into this season, our girl has been involved in a little insider trading and Eric has fired her. We also know she doesn’t really have any (formal) qualifications. So we don’t know what’s going on with her, job-wise. Even in her personal life, she kind of had sex with Rishi the night before his wedding…

P: Mm-hmm.

B: So a lot of her life is up in disarray going into the season. And then we get the season three look. How do you describe the season three look?

P: In her Halle Berry era

B: (laughs) Fair enough

P: She looks good. She looks good. Big chop. She’s in the Big Chop era

B: Yeah, Halle Berry is actually the perfect comparison.

P: Oh, any time someone does a big chop and it’s a wet look like that, it’s either Toni Braxton or Halle Berry. I think she decided to do a big chop to cut away the, if I’m really being so anal and being an English literature student here–

B: Again, that’s exactly why we’re here

P: She decided to get rid of the deadwood and all the problems in her life and you know, there’s something freeing about doing the big chop, I don’t think people understand. For those who don’t know the ‘Big Chop’, it’s when black women just chop their hair off. Some women do it because their hair is damaged or some because they relaxed it too much or some just because they want to.

B: Hmm

P: Some shave it bald, some shave it to like, think of Halle Berry in like CATWOMAN.

B: Yeah, or DIE ANOTHER DAY

P: Or Toni Braxton. They’ll cut their hair that short and they’ll grow the hair out again. And it’s the most… sighs The only thing I can compare it to is when white women have any random emotion and then decide to dye their hair. I only know this because my best friend is white and she dyes her hair at any given opportunity.

B: And it works?

P: It works, man. You feel much better.

B: Fair enough. We’ll see if she feels better in Season 3. She’ll probably not stop making terrible decisions though, both professionally and personally, because that’s the Harper we love.

P: Yeah

B: Oh yeah, that was fun. Thank you for joining me on this. What have we gathered in general by Harper’s hair decisions?

P: You are so welcome. I think we gathered that her hair decisions are dictated by whatever’s going on in her life. I feel like girls will generally understand this but there’s nothing better than when you’ve done your eyebrows, you do your lashes and you have your hair done and you just feel like yourself. I feel like as the show’s progressed and the more confident she’s become, the more she’s changed up her hair and she’s happy experimenting. She’s not going for the safe option, not that braids is safe because I love good braids, but for this character, it seems to be that she thinks of it as safe.

B: Yeah, it’s her safety zone.

P: It’s her safety zone.

B: You’re going to be locked in for season three of INDUSTRY?

P: I’m so locked in.

B: Thank you very much for this. This was fun.

P: You’re welcome. It was very fun.

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much and I hope we’ve been able to, however slightly, give you a different perspective or more insight into the character, the world and the great work put into the show. We may have employed some galaxy-brain level reaches but undoubtedly, most of these points would have been painstakingly considered by the show’s creative team, because that’s the only way you can arrive at the sort of fully thought-out and completely realised world that they manage to put on screen.

INDUSTRY returns next week, on August 11th, and we are going to employ a semi-weekly coverage this season. Eyo and I will resume our extensive weekly discussions, where he has been given the job of keeping me grounded. In addition to that, Ebube and Ebuka are producing (short) weekly preview episodes with a rotating guestlist of some of your favourite Popcorn for Dinner voices. Finally, if it’s a bit too late for you to start your rewatch, Ebuka, Jeremiah and Kachi have you covered with their ​Season 3 Preview (and Seasons 1&2 Recap) podcast that went up yesterday​.

See you all on August 11th, please don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter, and remember, ​as long as you’re making money, you’re free!