diff --git a/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py b/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py
index 1a423ad49c294..49302d9bf0494 100644
--- a/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py
+++ b/pandas/plotting/_matplotlib/hist.py
@@ -201,14 +201,16 @@ def _get_column_weights(weights, i: int, y):
 
     def _post_plot_logic(self, ax: Axes, data) -> None:
         if self.orientation == "horizontal":
-            # error: Argument 1 to "set_xlabel" of "_AxesBase" has incompatible
-            # type "Hashable"; expected "str"
             ax.set_xlabel(
-                "Frequency" if self.xlabel is None else self.xlabel  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+                "Frequency" if self.xlabel is None else str(self.xlabel)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            )
+            ax.set_ylabel(
+                self.ylabel if isinstance(self.ylabel, str) else str(self.ylabel)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
             )
-            ax.set_ylabel(self.ylabel)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
         else:
-            ax.set_xlabel(self.xlabel)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            ax.set_xlabel(
+                self.xlabel if isinstance(self.xlabel, str) else str(self.xlabel)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            )
             ax.set_ylabel(
                 "Frequency" if self.ylabel is None else self.ylabel  # type: ignore[arg-type]
             )