All the Secrets Behind the Hair in 'Dear White People' Season 2

Warning: This post contains spoilers.

We've waited over a year, but Dear White People is finally back. The acclaimed film turned Netflix series centers around the lives of African American students as they come face-to-face with microaggressions at the fictional predominately white, Ivy League Winchester University. Based on its popularity and scope of a "postracial" America on a college campus, the show was renewed for a second season—and rightfully so. The situations Winchester students find themselves in feel all too familiar for women of color.

Aside from the drama and brilliant commentary on "wokeness," while binge-watching the first season of Dear White People, I couldn't seem to take my eyes off the amazing hair looks that I so desperately wanted to re-create. From textured pompadour of lead character Samantha White (played by Logan Browning) to waist-length box braids of Joelle Brooks (Ashley Blaine), it was truly refreshing to see the versatility of natural hair flawlessly depicted in the series. More than that, the show captures the complicated relationship black women have with their hair—and, for so many of us, how it ties into our identities.

With the show returning to Netflix this weekend, I caught up with head hairstylist Dontay Savoy to learn more about how the characters' hairstyles play a role this season. Savoy is an advocate of the natural-hair movement, which is why he wanted the styles this season to be reflective of that. "It was extremely important to show that it's OK for black women to embrace their natural curl patterns," he tells Glamour. "For a long time, women have been kept hostage of owning what exactly that their own natural hair does by straightening it with relaxers, chemicals, and combs."

This, if you remember from last season, was a big plot point for Colandrea "Coco" Conners (played Antoinette Robertson). Episode four dived into her painful quest to cover up her impoverished upbringing and fit in with the beauty standards of her white counterparts. She ditched her natural hair for sew-in extensions and then moved on to wigs. "Her character is kind of glamorous, but we've got to keep in mind, she's still a college student," says Savoy. "She comes from poverty, but she's trying to make it look like she's the glam girl, the pretty girl who's always been it. She doesn't want anybody to know she's ever been poor or had to struggle."

Now, as black women are continuing to break free from the constraints of Eurocentric beauty ideals, Savoy says it was important this was also reflected in the characters on the show, especially Coco, who's struggled with this part of her identity for so long. For the opening scene of season two, Savoy ditched Coco's usual loose waves and curls for a more audacious look. "I gave her this long, 45-inch ponytail with blunt-cut bangs," he says. "That was one of my favorite hairstyles for Coco, because it was different. You never saw her hair pulled away from her face, so you were able to see how beautiful she really is." From the get-go, we see her interacting with her hair in a way she usually doesn't—she's seen stroking her ponytail and even whips her hair at Sam—conveying the strength and confidence she's built up over time. "Her hair is an accessory to her shadiness [this season]," says Savoy.