An ex-Love Island contestant has explained why the Black female contestants who go on the show wear wigs even in temperatures upwards of 30C, sometimes 40C.
Tanya Manhenga, 23, was a contestant on season nine of the show, entering the villa on day one before making it to the final and finishing in fourth place. Tanya received widespread attention for wearing her wig with glue on the show.
But a lot of people commented her decision because you could see the glue melting in the heat. The glue holds the wig in place and makes the hair look more natural, but in the heat, the line between your skin and your wig becomes more noticeable, which is why many opt to wear their hair natural or with protective styles like braids in the heat.
Tanya explained on the Cocktails and Takeaway YouTube show, that she went for a wig because she felt it was easier to maintain than doing something with her natural hair. Braids will need redoing every few weeks, for example.
She said: "The people that come in to do your hair, I think it's after every four weeks or something like that. It's very long. Basically, it's not as frequent as people think. So now if there's nobody to refresh my braids and, you know, when they're twisting now or your hair grows quickly out of it now, it's not cute anymore, It's not nice."
On the show, host Madame Joyce and Tanya debate why more Black female contestants don't go in with natural hair rather than with wigs. Joyce suggests that she would 'love to see one of the Black Love Island girls maybe do a natural' look.
Tanya agrees that she would too, however, she believes that more Black females on the show do not do that because of a perceived prejudice from some of the male contestants.
Tanya said: "They wouldn't do it because I think some of them feel like if they go in there too natural, already they put people in there that are not really pro-Black, like attracted to Black girls. So now it's even worse. You now feel like, oh, am I doing it too much now"
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