Kim Kimble: Race, Gender, and the Celebrity Hairstylist

Abstract

This essay focuses on the creative labor of Kim Kimble, celebrity hair stylist and hair care entrepreneur, across various media platforms. Kimble has gained visibility on mainstream US film and television by styling performers like Beyoncé and starring in her own reality program, L.A. Hair (2012-2017). I argue that Kimble's identity and career-as a Black woman and third-generation hair stylist-invites us to revise racialized and gendered assumptions about "below the line" labor while also observing systemic inequities that operate in the industries of hairstyling and media production.