When I was a little ignorant kid I just hadn't seen enough black people yet. But as I got older and I managed to retrieve my own damaged soul, as I was born to be an artist which isn't quite the mold made for men in the USA, well I began to see black people on TV and where I worked, sometimes.
The "brave" ones (I assume it took courage in the Great Society) had all sorts of interesting and wonderful hairstyles. and they sculpted shapes, words, etc. into their hair!!
I must say I was inspired as an artist. I tried to come up with some hair styles for myself, but a modified mohawk-mullet sort of style was about all I did.
These days I have the "reverse" mohawk of the Medicare group! ha! yeah, bald mostly on top.
But the short version of my "diatribe" is: I am one white guy who is more than ok with African-Americans coming up with styles that suit their type(s) of hair!!
6
Hair, Hair!!
Not a single picture of a natural afro accompanies this article. Why?
21
All these comments by my fellow white people just make me sick. Y'all pretending that black people's locs are problematic would run away screaming at the sight of a full length natural afro in the workplace. You should all be forced to endure the hours of exposure to toxic chemicals and painful comb-outs, just to please the white gaze. Shame on all of us.
19
I'm not onboard with this. If someone looked like Miley Cyrus with her bizarre butch hairstyles, I don't think she would be hired for a professional position, possibly not even for customer service at Walmart.
15
If the NYT takes seemingly every single chance it possibly can to remind the nation, and world, that black people are being discriminated against unfairly in every possible aspect of their lives, don't be surprised when white people tune out after a while. Not everything is our fault. Focus on substantive economic and legal redress, not hairstyles.
16
I wonder how much time the women used to illustrate this article spent on these hair-dos?
9
The New York Times should really stop indulging young people with these silly opinion pieces. If only as many people who wrote responses to this rant cared as much about the future of the planet as they did about hair styles, we would be a lot better off.
17
Well, I was kicked out of high school for sporting a “”Mohawk”. It was 1957. And I was a young white boy. So the discrimination was racist.
8
I have to echo DSmyth's last sentences. Why on earth would the NYT feature photos of hairstyles from an Afropunk Festival when the article is addressing the important issue of hairstyles in the workplace?
School is yet another matter. Why conflate the two?
All of which leads me to ask just who edited the article because the images are inconsistent with the point Ms Mar is attempting to make.
18
We need control groups - think epidemiology - if we are to be able to discuss this article. Skin color is a continuous variable, an excellent sample showing this has been produced by a Brazilian artist Angelica Dass- If you visit
http://www.attention-cph.com/portfolio-items/chart-every-human-skin-color/
Her sample chart shows 24 pantone skin colors, only one of which perhaps might be called black - you the reader may decide what you think by visiting that site. None of the women in the 4 pictures with this article has black skin at least as my many Somali friends here in Linköping might say (Long story, want to know more, write to me).
If we are going to consider how female candidates for a position with a law firm might be seen at interview time, we might first just use the 24 pantone colors, with each woman having as natural hair style as possible. Will the interviewer respond differently, just on the basis of skin color.
Then take a woman with one pantone color and vary hair style. Will the interviewer be immune to the style differences? I doubt it.
One-variable thinking is instilled in us Americans by a system that classifies people as black or white using a system perfected long ago by racists, one of the worst being Swedish Herman Lundborg, founder of the Swedish Institute for Race Biology. Time to get rid of that system in America.
Then try to find ways to be as fair as possible. Not easy.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
3
From the book "The Negro" written by W.E.B Du Bois in 1915, "If the hair follicles of a China-man, a European, and a Negro are cut across transversely, it will be found that the diameter of the first is 100 by 77 to 85, the second 100 by 62 to 72, while that of the Negro is 100 by 40 to 60. This elliptical form of the Negro's hair causes it to curl more or less tightly."
Showing hair styles from AfroPunk 2018 is no more typical of how black women wear their hair than photos from Burning Man represent how white women dress. Both events are specifically designed to attract people who want to be provocative, daring, edgy, fringe, etc., not people seeking employment in corporate America. This is just laziness on the part of the photo editor and does a disservice to the content of the article.
15
I was a US Army Race Relations officer in 1974 and remember protesting then because black gals were not permitted cornrows while white women could wear all the braids they wanted. There were a lot of possible solutions, of course, but none were implemented until last year?! This speaks to the pace of societal problem-solving -- gee willikers, 45 years for hair equity!! Bless those speaking out now with a new wave of powerful symbol and satire. We have to keep our eye on that arc of justice!!!
33
The author got her internship. The hiring folks must have liked the whole picture, and accepted the dreads. Yet she still carries a chip because a classmate thought the style was not interview-day correct. I don’t know who expects black women to straighten their hair. Not white women. We have enough to worry about with our own ‘dos.
As for the sad little girl sent home from her Catholic school, she was in violation of a ban on hairpieces. The school sent notices to the parents before the first day of class. The policy was not intended to punish black children, but to uphold a value of simplicity and to avoid competition. There is nothing natural about box-braided extensions. The process is time consuming and expensive. The school’s philosophy is evidently to encourage children to be children.
The photos used to illustrate this article did not help make the author’s point. The styles are not representative of ordinary women.
18
I'm 68 years old, Ms Mar. I can't believe this is still going on when we stood up against judging for fashion indulgences in the '60s. 'We', being the hippies of the day. It is insane.
Did you know that some sects of Muslim women are not allowed to wear bras because some Iman somewhere decided that by wearing a bra the woman was endeavoring to deceive men that she was a virgin? Well, I'm really not concerned with whether to wear a bra or not because I burned them in the 60's.
I believe it is still tribal thinking. You wear a business suit because you that is the only way you can be a lawyer? Tribal thinking.
By the way, I believe all of our ancestors came from Africa. Did they not? Cite the fact. Your problem is that your skin is dark. (lucky you! You will have less wrinkles than a white woman like myself) Well, the way things are going with global warming our progenitor with olive complexions will have much better chances of surviving.
BTW, neither of the women imaged in this article are black. One has a tawny skin tone that is lighter than mine when I use to tan and the other is caramel. Both have a great skull structure. As long as they don't gain too much weight they will be less wrinkled with fewer sun blemishes until their late 60s.
I'm envious.
Don't misunderstand me, please. I know you've had it tough, but so have all women regardless of color. We are truly 2nd rank everywhere in the world.
We could do something about it, but we just don't. We're still wuzys
2
If my hair were natural, it wouldn't be combed. I'd get plenty of static over that. Your claim that only black people get dinged for wearing their hair in a natural style is bogus. The rest of us just have better sense.
12
I believe MS. Mar is incorrect inn her pronouncement that the term dreadlocks came from slave traders.
"At the turn of the Twentieth Century, a socio-religious movement started in Harlem, NY by Marcus Garvey found an enthusiastic following amongst the Black population of Jamaica. This ecclectic group drew their influences from three primary sources (1) the Old and New Testaments, (2) African tribal culture, and (3) The Hindu culture that had recently become a pervasive cultural force in the West Indies.
The followers of this movement called themselves "Dreads," signifying that they had a dread, fear, or respect for God. Emulating Hindu and Nazarite holymen, these "Dreads" grew matted locks of hair, which would become known to the world as "Dreadlocks" - the hair-style of the Dreads."
https://www.knottyboy.com/learn/dreadlock-history/
5
Any organization, especially schools and businesses, that discriminate against black women for their hair being in dreadlocks should be ashamed of themselves and should be sued. I have seen plenty of professional African American women wearing locs and have absolutely no problem with it. I value them for their work and could not care less about their hair. Come on America, wake up. It is 2018 not 1950.
3
While people argue over hair, I find it more interesting that several comments show a lack of understanding of the words JEALOUSY and ENVY. These words are not at all the same.
Clearly, we need to drop the hair inanity in our schools and concentrate on imparting basic knowledge.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
4
Sad and mad. The more natural stlyes are beautuful.
The wigs are horrifying.
2
The article’s conjecture about the etymology of the word “dreadlocks” is not based in fact. I suggest that the editor take a look at the OED, rather than the linked-to amicus curiae brief (which itself cites dubiously to a 2005 sociology paper for the claimed etymology), which should never have been accepted as adequate for purposes of a NYT fact check.
4
While the environment is being trashed, the SCOTUS is being packed with conservatives threatening Roe v Wade, our economy is on the verge of being wrecked, you write about your hair????
Get over it. There are much bigger fish to fry. I was kicked out of catechism in 1968 because I was wearing burnt orange pants, and there was no dress code. It didn't affect me. I just went home, appreciating the extra time off.
Get to the polls in November and vote.
7
This article and argument is a joke. White men on Wall Street can't wear hair like Thor. White men in professional occupations, even on the New York Yankees, are expected to wear short, clean cut styles. (Just ask Johnny Damon.) Is that "natural texture" or expected cultural practice? Minorities want special rights, end of story.
14
I don't necessarily agree with it, but dreads are seen as unprofessional because of Rastafarian culture due to the weed and antiauthoritarianism associated with it. If you were white and had dreads you would've had the same issues. Dreads are a terrible example.
10
No such problems in the Marine Corps.
2
I still remember when black people, mostly Afro-Americans- were trashed for wearing large natural Afro hair designs.
These were pure natural-growth, and attractive as well.
Just how trivial can we be?
It must be jealousy, a sub-conscious hair wish complex.
How would Trump look with dred locks?
3
the styles look terrific, but as long as people realize at present recruiters for higher paying jobs with futures prefer people whose appearance is more conservative. You don't see too many Caucasian wall street bankers sporting Mullets and Mohawks.
4
African Americans have bigger fish to fry in this country than their hair. They ought to stop wasting hours of time each day on grooming, coloring, braiding hair and organize get ou t the vote
Campaigns in inner cities. Had blacks voted for Hillary in the same numbers they voted for Obama in places like Ohio, Pa. Michigan, Florida, Trump would not be president today.
6
This article is a bunch of ridiculous whining. There are plenty of hairstyles that white people can not wear and expect to be hired for certain, or in fact many positions. I've seen white people with dreadlocks and guess what they wouldn't be hired either. A white person who would let their hair get messy and unkempt, or shave most of it up and braid the top, like the woman in the first picture in this story, would also be passed over. Employers expect employees of all races to adhere to certain standards, if you don't like it then look for a job somewhere else.
7
Does anyone younger than 50 read the New York Times, or at least comment on it?
All of these comments appear to react with incredulity to the notion that black women *might* have been discriminated against or to reinforce the view that extensions and locs are somehow "bizarre" and "unnatural." It's disappointing.
4
I have been a loyal reader for years, but articles like this make me doubt the veracity of the news reported on the front page. This is not good. Is it all bias?
8
Who was responsible for the hair photos? Someone attending a music festival with shaved sides isn't indicative of what black women in a work setting deal with when wearing our
un-chemical-ized un-straightened hair.
Sisters wearing short naturals often have to put up with the most insane idiocy. Cornrows become exotic when on us but a topic of admiration (ala Bo Derek) when others wear theirs.
"Black Hair" is the last bastion of controlling black bodies in America; "Ain't" it about time to get over Black "Blackness"?
42
I work in a civil engineering office. We would happily hire anyone shown in the photos attached to your story. We have black friends, relatives, and colleagues.
1
Unbelievable how mean and petty "adults" can be. Cruelty abounds toward anything not "white." What happened to "live and let live"? Why are people so obsessed with what other people do when it has not one iota of claim on the way they live? What are we becoming? Or have we always been this way? My dogs have more kindness and class then most "human."
1
Many black people, females in particular spend large amounts of money, endure chemical and hot comb burn injuries and hair loss (and discomfort in wigs) for trying to conform to the white standards of beauty and style when it came to hair.
After chemical straightening damaged my hair for the last time, while trying to work with a performance costume: I shaved my head completely bald.
And haven't looked back. Come what may.
I caught SOME flack for it, earlier on. But for the most part, I've received many compliments. It's been over three decades now that I've done this.
The texture of black people's hair is actually very fragile, and cannot tolerate the heat and stress of the most popular styling.
Corporations and other work environments would do well to have some sensitivity about that. And use reasonable guidelines no matter what kind of hair a person has...or none at all.
6
I don't believe any school should have the right to dictate students' hairstyles, but I know that many have policies regarding mohawks and shaving words or pictures into the hair, perhaps because they're distracting, but there seems to be no valid reason to oppose dreadlocks.
When it comes to employment, however, Ms. Mar's argument falls apart completely. Employers have the right to demand a certain appearance, there's nothing at all racist about it. Plenty of places won't hire white guys with long hair, or a white woman with a shaved head. It's just not the look they want representing their company, and that's their right. If people care more about their hairstyle than the job, bully for them. They can find work elsewhere.
These policies may be arrogant, old fashioned, and perhaps unfair, but they're not racist.
7
However, Ria, a bad look is still a bad look.
2
Growing up in the mostly white Eastside area next to Seattle in the 70‘ we all had longer hair back then, blacks, whites, everybody. Then slowly but surely it got short again, even girls‘ hairstyles. I don’t remember seeing a lot of dreadlocks on African Americans. It wasn’t the style back then I guess. We should be grown up enough today to allow more hairstyle freedom, it does more for us in a positive way than worse. During the 80‘s Seattle was the center of the new wave culture in many ways. All kinds of different hairstyles were present to make even the Flock of Seagulls proud! Half of the world’s jell and hair stiffener went to Seattle back then! Lots of purple too! I say go for it! Be respectful but go for it! The only thing I refuse to acknowledge, and I know People will roll their eyes when I say this, is when men especially wear hats indoors. Above all baseball caps, awful! Infernally I swallow a goldfish when I see that!
1
I'm sorry, but the hair in these photos looks..... gorgeous. Stunning. Jealousy-inducing. I would love to have a fashionable hairstyle, but I simply don't have the funds or the time to keep it up.
I have the ultimate Southeast Asian Chinese hair which everyone (i.e., strangers) liked to touch when I was a kid. That was NO fun at all. And now that it's going grey/silver, it's extra no-fun at all. Now I feel like Mother Nature is punishing me, as well as all the social norms that women need to look young as long as humanly possible. Thank goodness for natural henna.
3
Schools need to quit worrying about hairstyles and earrings and start worrying about treating kids like kids who deserve human respect. Law firms need to quit worry about hairstyles, stockings and heel height and worry more about treating people who have worked HARD to graduate as people. Too many old wrinkled white guys making laws and rules in this country. I'm a youthful 60 and I'm tired of it.
1
I think that those who disagree with the author might change their mind if they were responsible for caring for a black girl's tightly coiled hair for a week or more.
2
I love it when people marginalize themselves with extreme styles and then complain they are being discriminated against. It’s a free country; do what you like but don’t expect everyone else to like it too.
32
My sister and I had "Jewish" hair which was just a little less curly than African-American hair. When the long, straight styles of the late sixties came in, we spent a fortune and many hours straightening it --- ironing, chemically treatng (sometimes with catastrophic results). I also wore a lot of wigs.
When the African-American women I worked with started letting their hair go natural, I took a deep breath and did the same. I came to love it and went through college that way.
When I graduated, I took a job at a Beverly Hills law firm. My boss very tactfully let me know that my look was "not professional." If I wanted my job, I would have to make a change. The ensuing hair rituals added a solid hour to my dressing time in the morning. I also couldn't go swimming, exercise etc. without ramping up the whole process again. Now I'm older, and the rebellious masses of iron-willed hair have thinned to a "manageable" state, just in time for my dotage.
But I look with delight on the many creative African-American styles of today, including dreadlocks of course, and the idea that they are still enduring the hair tyranny of fifty years ago and more makes me sad.
6
Face it: Louisiana will never change; I hope it does, but who know how long it will take. I am a white male, but I have watched this bigotry my entire life. I was raised in Louisiana. My parents taught me to treat people equally, and I am so grateful for that. Ironically, (being born in the 1950's), I had the longest hair in my elementary school in the 5th and 6th grade. I liked the Beatles, and my mother let me do this. I was sent to the principals's office regularly, always with the same q & a: Will you please cut your hair? and I would reply no thank you. They couldn't force me to go home for this; however, my 1st grade teacher made me wash my mouth out with soap. She got an earful from my mother, too. These days, it would make the national news. Regardless, I moved to NYC when I was 33 years old. The ugly head of racism was raised there, too. The difference was, it was more diverse racism. Thankfully, I also found much more tolerance and equality in the city. I lived there for over 28 years, then moved back (to Louisiana) 2 years ago. Racism is still alive and well here. It is much more noticeable, since I had left for so long.
3
It's uplifting, in a sense, to see that we've come to a point in Western Civilization that, regardless of our historical troubles and scars, this is now an article in the NYT. Does anyone think the Rohingya people, or those rummaging through mile-high trash mounds for food in the slums outside innumerable cities around the world even have the luxury to whine about this picayune stuff? Nice writing, just, if I might request, please pick a more substantive topic.
10
@Jake Cashill All those "privileged" American seniors whose SS checks leave them 60% below the federal poverty line don't worry too much about their hair, either.
2
On the off-hand chance it might actually be quiet for a day or two without someone being "outraged" about something, I am apparently now part of an oppressing group committing heinous acts of micro-aggression and sending folks fleeing to a safe place. Please be aware I could not care less about anyone's hair style . As a balding, 65 year old, white male, I am probably jealous.
5
Seriously, New York Times??? AfroPunk is a festival at which extremes are encouraged. I attended AfroPunk last year with my hair in a "frohawk."
When I'm working as the technical reviewer at my firm, I wear my hair in a fluffy Afro or an Afro puff (kinda like a bun).
Do better, NYT.
12
I tend to see the opposite: that unprofessional hairstyles are permitted on the head of an African American, that would never be accepted if the person were white. People are so afraid of being called racist that any hairdo on a black person gets a pass.
14
Just a correction here, the term dreadlocks originated with the Jamaican Rastafari who started sporting this hairstyle in the 1960's.
The Rastas were called "Dreads", and their long hair were called "locks", hence the term "dreadlocks", see Bob Barley, and the rest of the Wailers.
5
If your hair needs extension, then probably THAT hairdo is NOT consistent with your hairstyle. Anyways school is for studying not for showing off hairdos
10
"dreadlocks, a hairstyle said to be named by slave traders who viewed African hair texture as 'dreadful.'”
This needs more discussion - I've read that the name comes from "dread" or "fear" that the style causes among non-Rastafarians (especially "Babylonians"). Alternately that it refers to the fear of God among Rastafarians.
3
1. Bona fide supporting data, other than identity politics outrage that 99% of the U.S. and planet cares not one whit about?
2. Send offspring to public schools where there are no rules or much of anything else.
8
I've been around many blacks. I currently work with blacks, including black women. I have never encountered even one instance where one of these women was shamed, demeaned, criticized, etc., by anyone for the style of her hair. Maybe it's all quiet, behind my back, huh?
9
It's difficult, this black hair. Kids try to do something with it and are condemned. I personally think it's in the category of tattoos. I would never hire or date someone who showed tattoos obviously on their arms or face. Why? I think it shows low self-esteem, trying to be different from what you are.
4
What this article really boils down to is the default folk , got a serious problem with coarse hair ....no matter how it's groomed, they want black women to get their hair relaxed or *permed*, to *fit* in with them. Straight, fine, hair only. FACTS.
http://time.com/4909898/black-hair-discrimination-ignorance/
1
I am appalled at what black women have to do to their hair for some people to consider it "acceptable" in society. Personal choice and style is one thing, but I am no fan of enforced style choices requiring costly modification--trebly so when it can be held against a body in the workplace.
For many years, I have marveled at the beauty of well-kempt natural hair. For just as many years, I have wondered why anybody thinks it's less than attractive. I still don't really understand why anybody could think it is less than professional.
2
@Jacob Sommer Fine, but other people still have a right to their own opinions, don't they?
2
According to 23andMe I am 98% Caucasian, northern European. I come from Scandinavian-Lutheran stock, from as far back as my family genealogies can trace. I am blue-eyed, fair-skinned. Yet my hair is frizzy, unruly. Racist have accused me of having "Jewish hair" (yet thousands or hundreds of thousands of Jews have stick-straight hair). We need to stop this hair nonsense, and as long as hair is clean in the workplace, let people wear it as they will. I am a retired fifth grade public school teacher. I grew up on a farm, and the only requirement I was given for my hair was to keep it tied back when around farm equipment. That I told to my students, too.
60
When I grew up in NJ in a white Jewish household there was only 1 hairstyle allowed for boys: crew cut. "Nobody", i.e. my parents, ever asked for my opinion. Whatever my natural hair might have been, there was 1 style.
When I went to high school, there was 1 style: short.
If one did not abide then you were suspended.
Who decided what was short? Teachers and administration.
Was this fair? No. Did we care? Yes? Anybody else? No.
Times have changed. In most frameworks with which I am familiar, the criterion is "neat".
That still seems to be a matter of discussion.
Law firms, accounting firms are pretty conservative places. They usually have more rigid views of neat. I teach in a university. I can do what I want. What I want now is more (!!) hair. Alas that seems to be a problem and getting worse. Less hair longer is not a style.
Nobody should be punished today for hair style, but common sense is always a good thing to have.
5
Black or multi colored can be beautiful, which makes me wonder why the majority of black men on TV have gone bald. Even Don Lemon of CNN has lost most of his. Braids are absurd, but a 1970s crop of black hair would be a good thing that would help keep black heads warm in the winter and cooler in the summer. Enjoy.
I think most rules about hairstyles are counter-productive. Someone in a business or the military might be concerned about presentation or their bottom line rather than individual styles and needs, and I get it. Probably all of us have a natural reaction to styles we aren't familiar with (I definitely have a bias against facial jewelry) or that we see as symbolic of something we don't like or appreciate. Older people tend to feel this more so. Regardless of age, people feel this whether or not the person with the style or facial jewelry is white, black or otherwise. I still remember being shocked a few years back when a court clerk opened the doors with a metal bar piercing both nostrils. I can't remember her skin color.
One example. I don't think Colin Kaepernick or any player should have to stand during the anthem (though I hate the media coverage). But, his afro, decades out of fashion, appears to be, in context only, his symbolic representation to teams that he is more interested in protest than winning. Fair or not, he is not good enough to overcome that concern and that is about winning too. NFL players are mostly black now and it is ridiculous to suggest the owners could give a hoot about his skin color - or about his hair except for what it symbolizes to them. For example, many players in the league have dreadlocks. Do you hear concern about OBJ's hair? No. It's emulated.
Some things are about race. But, everything is not. I haven't seen enough to believe this is.
1
The article overblows the issue, based on a few individual stories. Any society has a dress code at a given period of time, social manners, and men's and women's hair styles. Dreadlocks, just like tall hairdos of Marie-Antoinette's time, are not the late-20th to 21st century coiffure styles.
6
"It’s unthinkable that a court would uphold a policy that effectively required white workers to alter their hair texture ..."? No it isn't. I've been told in all seriousness I'll need to 'do something with my [curly/kinky] hair' to be taken seriously/hired/elected. Crown-of-glory or cross-to-bear?
I always make plain that others are better off to consider what is happening on the inside of my head rather than what is growing on the outside.
2
Hair bias is an issue that extends beyond race to gender and age. Straight, non-gray hair is the ideal most women are encouraged to adopt to “look professional”. As a white woman over 40 with curly, graying hair, I’ve felt the pressure to join the brigade of Stepford female executives sporting blonde-highlighted, non-gray, blown-out, anchor lady hair. Until corporate America widely embraces the variety in white women’s natural hair texture and color, there is little hope it will do the same for black women.
7
@CS Sad commentary, but very true.
1
For me the idea of telling anyone - black, white, brown, yellow, or anything in between - how they should style their hair is mind-blowing. As long as it is neat and tidy, it is none of your business how someone, even your employee, wears their hair. And the author makes a convincing case that this sort of hair policing is mostly directed at minorities, and so is based in racism, not true concern about hair styles.
3
People with facial tatoos and multiple visible piercings have the same issue.
2
I often read comments first just to see the spread of public opinion, and the spread is wide. Then I have read the article and it just happens that this is what I see to the left of the comment box:
"When it comes to hair, ONLY black people and multiracial people of African descent are punished when they choose to wear styles consistent with their natural hair texture"
These words give me pause:
Only
Consistent with
I am averse to all generalizations so I wonder how the author can know about what all those other people face.
Consistent with: Please explain. The first illustration does not seem to show a person displaying hair consistent with her natural hair texture. Her head appears to be completely shaven and then capped with what she chose to cap with.
Chimamanda Ngotze Adichie deals with this subject in Americanah. I recommend that to all because she also deals with the subject of what she and her Nigerian sisters are expected to do on arrival in - America.
Here in Linköping, SE, we have a large population of women from the Horn of Africa, the Somali Walaalo being the largest. The Somali sisters, close to 100% of them solve the problem by wearing hijabs, many of them high-fashion hijabs. Of the hundreds I have met at the Red Cross, only 2 have crossed that hijab boundary.
Interesting article, interesting comments. But if you all do not get out and vote for non-Republicans then hair style will be a minor matter.
Citizen US SE
5
Stop worrying. Black hair is darn sexy. The natural Afro on men ala the Jacksons is just a fantastic look. Diversity in hairstyle and all else is a plus. It’s tough to pitch at conventions but in the end we all benefit.
2
If anyone (has nothing to do with black people) do not want to have a hairstyle, clothing, whatever to get the part they will not. It is plain and simple : if you do not act professional people weill not perceive you as such so beware of the consequences.
2
This is why the Supreme COurt and courts in general need to be at the forefront of democrat politics, in the same way it is with the republicans. The notion that hair is not an immutable characteristic is hogwash. Skin color also is not immutable under this reasoning because a white person could wear make-up to darken her skin. C'mon! Hair worn naturally is just hair -- unless that hair style choice is one that says I'm not being white, then it's an affront.
1
If African American hair is deemed unprofessional, how do we explain the vast numbers of people with tattoos? Mainstream standards have a colonial history.
I'm a huge fan of the NYT but this sure looks like click-bait.
None of the four hairstyles depicted would be allowed in the military, btw, or in most corporate environments. But of course, the photos, of fashion model-looking women sporting attention grabbing hairstyles, do not illustrate the types of hair styles the op-ed is talking about.
Seems like it's all a set-up by the NYT just to get us arguing with each other. Good for the bottom line but not good for us.
9
@darinb, Racial orientated 'wedge' issue du jour.
6
I am a live and let live sort of person and never criticize someone's choice of hair or clothing, but looking at the women in the pictures, I honestly don't see hair, but some kind of reptilian appendage. That is my first impression. However, I have seen the whitest of white men also wear this kind of hair braid, and the look is exactly the same. Do I care. Not a notch, but this article certainly did insist on a response. Mountains of hair out of a molehill.
3
I LOVE the creativity of hairstyles I see on many African Americans. Just fabulous! Caucasian hair just isn't that exciting...
4
I love black people's hair, except the wig hair my girlfriend wears even in my shower that gets caught in the drain. My girlfriend is black and although I prefer her natural hair, I can't have an opinion on the topic unless I want to get punished. The best answer I can give for the question posed in the title is; Because people are still allowed to have an opinion! Do I like everyone's opinion? No. Do I want to live in a place where you can have opinions about some people and not other people? No.
4
Sadly, this is why Trump wins
7
I love natural black hair, and natural white hair, and natural Hispanic hair. But you are wrong when you say that only black students are punished or shamed for natural hair. I have had fine, naturally kinky/curly/nappy hair all my life. I grew up listening to my mother, teachers, bosses,and the world harangue about how I could just look "normal" if I would "just try." Now that I'm over 60 and it's mostly white, the latest insult is that I would look "young" (not) if I just would dye it. I have been shunned in some business opportunities, social settings, mostly by other women and older white men. I don't care. I hate plastic hair and dyes and the Farrah Fawcett look, and I've had a good life and great career, happy marriage and motherhood. But I'm sad that my physician daughter has straightened her hair with one of those ceramic things since high school because she wants to look "normal." And I'm here to tell you that black hair, and black women, don't have a monopoly on the stupid bigotry that people project toward what I call free and natural hair.
9
Perhaps a better conversation could be had if the black community could help define acceptable business styles rather than just criticizing the non-black community for doing so.
9
Agree with everything here. I faced a lot of this nonsense while attending a high school for girls. Regarding the origin of the word dreadlocks, I think it was Rastafarians in Jamaica using typical ironic humor, in response to the colonial reaction to any kind of too-black hairstyle, too black anything, who coined the word "dreadlocks." They took discrimination and afrophobia with a pinch of humor. Like the cakewalk. Laugh at the people pointing finger at you.
1
I guess I just do not understand the meaning of the word “natural”.
Looks pretty contrived, twisted, altered, dyed, etc. to me
10
Your headline is blatently untrue. Women of other races experience this discrimination as well. I am white and have naturally lifeless, kind of wavy/frizzy hair. I have been told by two bosses at different companies that I need to work on looking “more professional” — aka, my hair is “too casual.” So I have to iron or curl it.
7
People commenting that private schools and institutions can enforce their own standards of dress and grooming as a precondition to employment, access or membership maybe correct. But they miss the points entirely. Black people have been forced to change their natural appearance to the whims of powerful white folks for centuries. It's 2018 and that has to stop.
Moreover, in 2018 why do we even have dress codes and grooming codes anyway? In San Francisco, the most powerful (and rich) person in the room is the one in a hoodie and jeans. Time to get over it and get together, people.
41
@Hal9000- "Forced" Really? By whom? Essence magazine, or hair care and cosmetic providers? I don't remember forcing anyone to braid their hair. I agree with you. it is definitely time to get over this . Our world is imploding with climate and population issues and some folks are worried about braids? Wow. I wish I had that much free time to obsess.
4
I fail to see how braids with foot-long extensions constitute ‘natural’.
When one starts augmenting braids with extensions, yarn, bangles and beads, there is nothing REMOTELY natural about that look.
Taking it a step further: dreadlocks with all of the wax or binders that frequently are unkempt or are ridden with bits of lint or other detritus - no difference between that and coming out of the house in clothes that haven’t been washed in two weeks.
9
Interestingly, the Navy recently changed its standards on allowable hairstyles for women, and addressed some of these concerns for black women specifically. It's a huge step, even though women's hair in general is policed in the Navy so much that the regulations are many pages long (for women) and very short for men.
3
Not every one looks good in dread locks and exotic hair dos belong on the runway. Service industries want their customers to be more important than the service provider. So dread locks on a customer may be less discussed than the provider of the service.
2
Cutting, washing, and combing or brushing one's hair are all technically "unnatural", so can we please see through the ruse of using this term to rationalize these logically arbitrary but culturally driven rules? Our society is multicultural, like it or not. If there is some rational basis for hair and dress codes (and I think there can be), put together a code that transparently reflects those rational limits that presumably most of us can agree on. For instance, I think many of us can agree that young kids should be focused on schoolwork rather than competitive fashion. But too often these codes remind me of the authoritarian busy-body women and men who instituted outrageously provincial rules in my grammar school days in Mississippi at both private and public schools. Today most of these rules would seem humorously telling of the small-mindedness, grandiose self-certainty, and circumscribed white suburban mindset of some administrator gone slightly power-mad with his or her authority over small kids and harried parents — except that they can often be recognized today as being driven by a malevolent intent to control or discriminate against some subgroup.
3
RE: "It’s unthinkable that a court would uphold a policy that effectively required white workers to alter their hair texture"
Alter hair texture or hair style? As far as I know hair, of any type, does not naturally form into the styles depicted or described in the opinion piece. Obviously some serious effort and maintenance is involved so it seems more a matter of style than texture.
RE: "a policy that effectively required white workers to alter their hair texture through costly, time-consuming procedures involving harsh chemicals."
Why would a policy against dreadlocks require "costly, time-consuming procedures" when the alternative, naturally cut hair doesn't require any of that?
Do the long straight tight braids pictured from the Afropunk Festival favor or work the natural texture or do they deny it? BTW - the styles don't bother me at all.
RE: "continue to judge us based not on what we can contribute but on who we are and how we wear our hair", dress, appear, how old we are, and so on.
Welcome to the women's club.
4
The parents of the girls in the private school in LA had to or ought to have read the dress code. Private schools often have ridiculous levels of details with regard to how students dress, from length of sleeves to height of skirts. Hair style are targeted for white and Asian children too-- my daughters were not allow to wear long hair free. This story would have more merit had it happened in public school, but private schools are free to impose whatever dress codes they choose. Parents can fight back by joining boards and rewriting the codes.
8
Society needs to evolve to accept a wider range of hairstyles. I say this as a white person.
Most white people have no clue that the hairstyles we consider natural, normal, mainstream, and professional are not natural, affordable, easy, or even healthy for many people of color.
It is understandable that our first reaction is to wonder why people of color don’t try to fit the norm.
But it is a matter of education and perspective. And a little imagination.
The education part involves taking some time – – 20 minutes will do it – – to google and learn about different types of hair than your own.
The perspective is remembering that the “norm“ is not an absolute. It’s what we’re used to, but it can evolve. We should help it evolve.
5
Natural hair attributes (curly, straight, tightly-curled, color, etc.) are one thing and hair style is another. Style your hair in line with circumstances. It's your choice and keep in mind that you will judged by that choice -
good or bad, right or wrong. Be smart.
8
@Glenn Thomas you mean 'white' circumstances, it's amazing to me how many people don't get their white privilege here, actually astounding.
1
I find nothing "natural" about the hair of the four women featured in the photos. There are a variety of ways Black women can wear their hair in a business setting which maintains a natural quality to the hair while still maintaining an air of professionalism. None of these examples illustrate any such styles. Moreover, any Caucasian women who wore their hair in a comparable manner (bizarre colors, dreadlocks, unrealistic extensions, etc.) would be just as "discriminated" against.
20
@Lois Brenneman There is an enormous group of white women who ARE discriminated against daily, hourly every minute somewhere in the US. These women are denied employment, OPENLY mocked and insulted by liberals and conservatives alike, including by NYT readers and commenters, and no one says ANYTHING about it. Who are these women? The anser is obvious - they are older women, fat women, poor women, even working class women. Why are there no columns voicing support for these women? Why do their lives and feelings not matter?
5
@Lois Brenneman Maybe you should look at the hair of the child crying in the video instead of at the hair of the women at a large music festival. That is the hair that was banned. It was not a bizarre color, and just because it lengthened her natural hair doesn't mean it was somehow out of this world. And there is nothing wrong with dreadlocks. They are a natural, healthy style for afro-textured hair.
2
While I celebrate and encourage tolerance for individual choice and expression, context does matter. For example, during my years in corporate life, certain sartorial and grooming selections were not accepted in the business. And at boot camp in Ft. Riley, Kansas? Forget it. Some judgment is always needed in one's personal presentation.
14
Who chose the photographs that are used to illustrate the article?
Define "hairstyles consistent with their natural hair texture".
In what ways are the four styles shown consistent with the natural hair texture of the four women shown?
Might have helped if we were given photographs of four women showing their natural hair so we could see better the ways in which the hair styles shown are consistent with their natural hair texture.
At the moment - early morning in Sweden - I cannot find my copy of Chimamanda Ngotze Adichie's "Americanah" in which she has a great deal to say about hair styles of women growing up in Nigeria and then continuing their lives in America,
I recommend that book since she writes with great authority about this subject.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
8
"Years later, when I joined a large corporate law firm, I noticed that I was the only professional woman of color with natural hair."
The writer should have asked other women of color who were professionals (not "professional women of color," badly written phrase) why they did not feel comfortable wearing their hair in a natural style. Large corporate law firms are among the most conservative workplaces. I think it may be a little more common to see curly hair, but not dreads or the exteme styles in the photos accompanying this article (terrible choices).
"It’s frustrating that schools, employers and federal courts continue to judge us based not on what we can contribute but on who we are and how we wear our hair."
Yes, it is, but that is the world we currently live in and lawyers usually are not naive.
13
As a POC I've faced criticism for aspects of personal appearance all my life.
When I was in high school, my teachers used to pull me up for having improperly clipped fingernails, not having my shirt properly buttoned, and for long hair.
When I became an adult job interviewers were quite prejudiced—I did not feel free to wear brown shoes with a dark blue suit for an interview, and at no time did I feel free to seek a job not wearing a jacket or a tie. I could tell by the judgmental looks around me that plaid shirts were out, and a lack of starch and crumpled collars might adversely affect my annual job review.
People are so judgmental. Why don't they accept the styles that I choose to exhibit?
Clamping down on self-expression in favor of conformity of appearance in the workplace and schools must be racism, yes?
3
@mscommerce All other issues aside, no-one wants to see brown shoes with a blue suit.
3
It's unfair the world judges us based on our look - but it DOES and that's not going to change. So if one works in a subdued office or corporate setting, what's the harm in toning down the look and saving it for weekends?
14
I'm almost 61, work in a corporate environment with people, on average, my children's age. I dye my hair because 1) I can't imagine what it would actually look like naturally grey and 2) age descrimination exists.
That being said, we don't have people with mohawks, pink, green, blue or purple hair. I have seen MANY professional women with braids, extensions, twists, locs, buns, wigs, all look beautiful and professional.
Corporate environment, you had better fit in, no matter your race, ethnicity or personal beliefs. If I wore apparel or hung signs expressing my political beliefs in work, it would be frowned upon, to put it mildly.
Black hair, white, asian, whatever hair, keep it neat and clean and conform to corporate standards.
19
Are these photos meant to undermine the article?
Is the photo editor commenting on the article?
The photos are absurdly inappropriate to the article.
30
It is the height of narcissism to think that one should not care about what others think while still expecting to be successful. We live in a society together. I am 98.2% north European according to 23andme, but I would not be seen as serious if I were to adopt my childhood norm of cutoff blue jeans (Alabama) at work today. My Ph.D. in chemical engineering would take a backseat to our societal etiquette which facilitates understanding and relationships.
22
Persecuted because of dreads? I thought black people were - like Chinese people, Indian people, Eskimo people - persecuted because of everything.
One thing I never understood though, why it was that when two black women got to together - they didn't know each other that well - the conversation inevitably moved to hair: kinky, unruly, quintessentially black hair. What do you do with it? How about, just leave it alone, and talk about quantum mechanics or something.
6
Seriously, if black women truly receive a disproportionate amount of criticism as to how they make up their hair, then please provide some real data that comes from a worthy study. As it stands, this article provides nothing more than conjecture based upon a few individuals' experiences.
For example, not too long ago, I saw a news clip on CNN which showed a black woman scolding a white male student at San Francisco State University simply because he had his hair in dreadlocks. So does this mean that white men get punished more for their hair?
I'll wager that people of all races receive approbation whenever they dress, act, or do anything that falls outside their artificially constructed social and cultural boundaries.
113
@Michael
You could start by agreeing that banning natural styles of black hair is wrong. That the basis of equality must be the embrace by employers of natural hair of all races. When you've done that then it would make sense to worry about data.
4
@Michael
Your comment translated: "I've never heard of it, so it's not a real problem."
Your need for confirmation from someone you deem an authority is appalling. You could have Googled "black women hair discrimination" or a similar phrase and found a discourse that's been going on for YEARS that amounts to much more than "a few individuals' experiences." Your need for an appeal to authority is a method of dismissing peoples' lived experiences. Thousands of black women could tell you they've been discriminated against because of their hair, but you didn't even bother looking for that evidence.
I would also like to point out that the piece discusses a military-wide ban on locs and braids. From that information, it stands to reason that every black woman in the military up until 2015 at the earliest was prevented from wearing the hairstyles that were the healthiest and easiest to maintain for her hair. Yet, you seem to have overlooked that part.
9
@Michael doesn't make it right under any circumstances. The problem here is power. I have the power to tell you how to dress and how to look, if you don't like it, take a hike. Maybe that's OK in your and others' read of free enterprise, but for me, it's just another kind of plantation mentality -- whether used against blacks or white.
2
As an older white woman born and raised in Detroit I found that video sickening and heart breaking. A catholic school at that! I wonder if they send the girls home with the bleached blond look or the purple streaks? I'll have to ask my niece, a high school senior in a SW Detroit catholic school.
2
@MKP Read the dress code.
3
The school had the right to tell the girl that she did not abide by the rules. A transgression is a transgression, a lawyer should know this. Is the color of a person important in this? In my book my - no.
I think trying to play a race card here is utterly silly. Most people have to conform to society's standards - no matter their ethnicity.
If we allowed our "natural" selves to go to the office we would all look like cave wo/men.
11
The selected photos of hairstyles do not go with this article. NYT: you can easily change photos on your website that more clearly illustrate the author's point. Enough readers have commented on the photos. Please do the author and her readers a favor and find more appropriate photos. And, I agree with the author.
10
An african author once said that black represent blacks in American are very light skinned black .Look at adds that have all skin colors she said, the one who supposed to be representing black is very light skinned black. I’m looking all black pictures featured in this article and they actually light skinned black . Hummm !
8
@Bibylava. Statistically a big percentage of black people have some white blood. Remember the "one drop" rule? And Obama, being half white was still referred to as black. He's just as white as he is black. So, yes, there are many so-called blacks who have more "white blood" than black, but still referred to as "black." I really don't like these labels of Mexican-American, African-American. etc. Just plain American is just fine.
I can't help wondering if people in this and other "natural hair only" schools also send students home if they get a perm so their straight hair will have some body or hold a curl. In the video, you can see two caucasian women, presumably school employees. Frankly, the hair of the woman with the long, wavy hair looks unkempt. And I bet the woman with the shoulder length hair uses hairspray, and probably additional unnatural products, to keep her style in shape.
Even this blue eyed blonde can recognize the racism inherent in banning hair styles that are natural to some, but not attainable by those with mainly Northern European heritage (therefore, unnatural?).
Can we please stop with the idiocy and cruelty? Especially to children!
88
The article makes great points, but the photos are completely inappropriate. The author is talking about professional black hairstyles, not these brightly colored and extreme styles that are, literally, from a punk festival.
These photos give the uninformed reader the impression that black women are going to work with pink hair and sculptural pieces atop their heads. These styles are lovely works of art, but not representative of what black women in corporate environments or the girls going to school with simple box braids wear. Imagine if a white author wrote about policing of white women's attire in the workplace and the article was accompanied by white women at a punk festival. I think we would all be confused.
It's disappointing to say the least that the Times' photo editor chose to illustrate an article about black women looking professional with women in bra tops at a punk festival.
19
Latina tv reporters who have ethnic hair have to spend thousands of their own dollars a year, and hundreds of extra hours, maintaining "straight, white people's hair" to be on camera. If they don't do it, they don't get the job, or their contracts are not renewed. And, this is at Univision and Telemundo! It is the same when the reporter makes the transition to English language television.
One of the saddest things I have ever heard was a conversation with a local Spanish tv anchor. She told me that she could not bathe her own children because the humidity in the bathroom would "frizz up" her ethnic hair, and as a tv reporter we all knew she would quickly lose her job if she showed up with her natural ethnic Dominican hair.
7
I’ve never heard “ethnic hair” ?
Negative judging happens on many levels whether it be black women’s hair, braids, tattoos or any other body adornment. I do not care what a person looks like. I care that the person is qualified to do the job. What is a normal appearance anymore? I think I draw the line at cleanliness. I really do not want to smell another person. And, if you are up in years (that’s me) you may be perceived as weak, demented or “out of it” simply because your hair is white and your skin is wrinkled. It happens and it happens often.
4
Only black people are shamed for wearing their hair naturally? I have to laugh at the absurdity of the statement. having been told many times to cut my hair to make sure it is above my collar and out of my eyes and 'gender appropriate' in both public and Catholic school I can tell the hair-oppressed Ms. Mar that white men are regularly denied the 'right' to wear their hair natural and long.
Society being obsessed with hair as a statement and seeking to control the hair styles of (especially young) people is centuries old and crosses political, cultural, gender, racial and religious lines. It is part of the whole conformity thing that is a general tool of civilizations and nations, and it affects a lot of people for a lot of reasons, not only or even primarily racism.
11
Thank you Ria for sharing this perspective. As a white male I can’t know your experience nor make judgments on your thoughts. But I can share my own. If I were to hire the services of say, a lawyer, doctor or an accountant I would have a conscious bias against mullets, top knot man buns, feathered wings, back combs and the wet look amongst others. These are not extreme outrageous styles. Rather common actually.
Indeed I would be far more inclined to entrust braided extensions on a person of any race over hair-plugs on any race.
(I am not equivocating the aesthetic of any natural hair style or even stylized hair style of a person of African origin with any of the unfortunate whiter styles listed above. Just illustrating my own biases.)
We choose our hair like our clothes and jewelry. It’s a signifier. A heavy metal guitar player with political aspirations or a hip hop artist with a law degree has to make a choice at some point as to which way they want to go to pursue their interest with everything stacked in their favor. Hair included.
2
Skin color is destiny. Along with skin color usually comes hair texture. The majority population controls what is acceptable and what's not. If one is not part of the majority or is and is among the low income caste, though one has the right to choose, ones choice must be acceptable to the majority if one wants to be accepted. Of course, money can smooth ones way into many places except when it comes to being unrecognized and suddenly one is just another black person. Oprah found this out in Europe once.
1
It’s hard to know what to make of this article given the images included with it. I’m not familiar with the lingo of black hairstyles or hairstyles in general really but unless black people are prone to baldness around the outside of their heads (which I haven’t observed) then the article cover image isn’t anything a person of any race would need to accommodate their “natural” hair. I’d also add that dyeing your hair with colors that, to be frank, don’t even really occur in your race seems to be in questionable at best.
That said if the fuss is simply about braids/cornrows/dreads, the school seems to be in the wrong as these are nothing unusual in any community with any degree of diversity.
1
I am not really that sure whether your argument is supposed to be helped or hindered by your choice of photographic examples
2
In the female-dominated future, public affairs discourse will consist mainly of women complaining that their favorite hairstyles aren't fashionable enough.
1
This is such a tangled web, few with divergent ideas traverse this dialogue but it truly needs discourse, great discourse. So I go, with fear in my head and love in my heart.
Having been recently been chastened by a friend on this subject, our opposing positions being her vision of "beautiful black hair" and my version being more taken from study of science, "Hair texture derives from care given meshed with DNA of foreparents." There is little tolerance on this subject with many "black" women and that is the hellstrom that few are foolish enough to tread.
While I strongly value all meaningful discourse, I find that there is little tolerance in the matriarchal society that is the black community in America(this statement may get lots of heat in itself but 72% of black household heads being female speaks for itself.) I hazard here for problems are never really even addressed, forget solved, until there is real open dialogue.
Though I am black and have worn my Afros in the past, I look at the usually badly managed looks many see as fashion and I walk away from any dialogue, saying nothing thus avoiding conflict. I prefer & only tolerate good grooming from all voluntary interactions, clean well washed dreads satisfy my reqs, Others see my back as I depart.
In closing, good clean grooming never hurt anyone, I prefer not to touch or be near those displaying another preference regardless of ethnicity, fashion or whatever.
To each, his or her own preference.
1
It's interesting that in the early 19th Century the way a New York City court determined whether an individual was of African descent or not was to remove his hairpiece, instead of looking at his complexion, which was light-brown. Most Black males do not need to shave as much as whites. If we do, ingrown whiskers are the result. Hence, many Black males do not shave everyday. I don't; yet there have been instances where Black males were refused jobs because they didn't shave everyday - cannot and should not! Our hair texture could be physically the most distinguishing part of African Americans, and for many whites, the most irksome. Looking at it that way, Blacks may be just naturally upsetting to whites...whose fault is that...who must make adjustments?
2
It always struck me as absurd that black women are required to put horrible chemical straighteners in their hair to be seen as professionals. I'm white, and nobody ever asked me to perm my straight hair to get a job. Of course not! But it's normal to expect black women to endure expensive and toxic beauty routines to be employable. I've always found braids, dreds, and afros to be beautiful, but that's beside the point. I can't believe we're still having this conversation in this day and age!
1
people from all color and styles get offended everyday. it is unfortunate, but lets please stop finding systemic racism everywhere you look at. It may not be the case.
9
In Jamaica, a child had to go to court to be allowed to wear dreadlocks to school. One would think that natural styles would be accepted there. Until a few years ago, women of color in the armed forces, stationed overseas in a war zone, had to waste their time straightening their hair to conform to outdated standards.
People seem to think they have a right to comment on hairstyles or color of one's hair. I have been called Curly Top, Red and various other weird names, most of which aren't complimentary. I must admit that I find it hard not to admire (and comment on) a nice head of dreadlocks. I think they are beautiful.
3
I’m not a black woman, but I have very curly hair that would naturally form dreads if I let it. I’m all for natural styles, but true dreads just look messy and unkempt. They also accumulate debris, and sometimes odors. Its not a race thing, it’s a grooming thing.
9
Private schools and private employers get to set their own dress codes. The hairstyles in the accompanying pictures are extreme and distracting and would not be appropriate in the workplace anymore than a dyed red Mohawk or the like would be. Clearly, other natural hairstyles, if neatly kept, are appropriate.
3
I've had afros and twists for about 26 years. No critiques that I looked unprofessional.
4
“It’s true that hairstyles involve some degree of personal choice”
Exactly. If you know there is a dress code and you can meet that code and choose not to, that’s your problem.
8
I am latina and wear natural curls. Whenever I showed up at work with my hair straightened the only compliments I received were from black colleagues. Puzzling!
4
The non-black commenters stating how Black Hair can be done, presented, what is natural and acceptable STAY PROVING THE AUTHORS POINT! The article is about policing of Black Hair and most of the comments are doing a great job of that...le sigh.
5
Rejection of these hairstyles is usually more subtle. People, notably white people, make negative judgments about the people who wear them because the hairstyles seem odd.
Such judgments play across people's faces and come across as mild rejection or hostility. Should we call such reactions micro aggressions or racial prejudice?
Maybe I’m in a small group of white women who actually think women of color look more beautiful with their natural hair. As a GenXer, I remember the Jheri curl and perms in high school in the 80’s but no extensions. I think it’s sad that in 2018 black women still have to justify anything about their hair to anyone. With the internet you really can do some self edification, it may take a little time but it’s worth it in the end.
Shamed? Humiliated? Punished?
Honestly? How? Students with their parents' sponsorship and approval agree to uphold a school's dress and appearance code. If the code is discriminatory or repressive, obviously parents and students wouldn't approve it in the first place. But once they do agree to uphold it, they're obliged to uphold their end of the bargain. Simple contractarian ethics at work.
On the other hand, if the school system imposed special restrictions that only applied to black students and were not a part of the initial understanding and agreement, that would clearly be a violation of the social contract.
5
People are "punished" for all kinds of things - being fat, dressing sloppily, having tattoos, wearing excessive makeup, wearing suggestive clothing - these are personal choices (except possibly being overweight). Employers make choices, too. Welcome to the real world.
14
She asks me why, I'm just a hairy guy
I'm hairy noon and night, hair that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low, don't ask me why, Don't know
It's not for lack of bread, like the Grateful Dead...
Darlin', give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair, shoulder length or longer
Here, baby, there, momma, everywhere, daddy, daddy
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair...
Let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas, (yeah) a hive to bees, (yeah) a nest for birds
There ain't no words for the beauty, the splendor, the wonder of my Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy, snaggy, shaggy
Ratty, matty, oily, greasy, fleecy, shining, gleaming
Streaming, flaxen, waxen, knotted, polka dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided, powdered, flowered and confettied, Bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied!
They'll be ga ga at the go go when they see me in my toga
My toga made of blond, brilliantined, biblical hair
My hair like Jesus wore it, Hallelujah, I adore it
Hallelujah; Mary loved her son, why don't my mother love me?
1
I've had dreadlocks for more than 30 years. I've worked at major corporations, banks and law firms in the United States and Canada, with dreadlocks. My hair is ALWAYS neat and clean and I've never been afraid to walk into the most 'professional' situations.
What I don't do is allow my hair to be touched or up for discussion. If someone has a problem with my hair, I make sure they know that I'm not interested in their opinion.
My hair is beautiful and I love how it looks. I've had nightmares where I dream that I cut my hair off. When I wake up, I reach up to make sure my dreads are still there.
People fought and died to give me the right to be a proud Black woman. I exercise that right every day of my life.
5
Kids should be allowed some amount of creative freedom. So you streak your hair some wild colors, braid it, shave it or wear extensions, the more variety children see, the less distracted they will be. And teachers should certainly be accepting of a childs expression. Gosh the way the school reacted one would think a crime has been committed. What has happened to a kind and caring resolution of simple confusions.
The only thing that worries me is very long, braided hair that cannot be loosened out. What happens if you get lice? Might pose a bit of a problem. It is school and everyone goes through such a nasty scare at one time or another. Would it not be possible to keep styles simple and still enjoy ones cultural tilt, at least while in school?
So on the one hand black girls are disciplined and expelled for violating codes against "unnatural" extensions, and on the other hand they are expelled for wearing "natural" hairstyles? Something of a Catch-22, no? Also don't some of these styles (natural and extensions) make it easier for the girls to participate in sports, swim, shower at schools etc than if they had their hair straightened? I fail to understand how extensions could be disruptive. My college students wear all sorts of hair styles and I haven't noticed it affecting their intellects. I went to "hippy high" in the era of punk styles and my classmates wore all sorts of hair colors, shapes, and styles, and many of them went on to top schools and successful careers. I don't recall it being an issue at all. Now some of my university professor colleagues are painting their hair in rainbows. And I've never heard of a white girl being sent home for extensions, has anyone?
6
I don't know of any black people who wear their hair in the styles included in this article. For some Black people to equate all black hair texture the same is a stereotype that needs to be dispelled within the black community. My mom hair was natural but it was very curly and often did not require a pressing comb and she was a proud black woman who did not imitate white women hairstyles.
5
Well my favorite comment so far was from the person who said that orange hair worn in an odd over sprayed look on a certain person should quash this other argument once and for all. To repeat he said " Was that appropriate hair for the Whitehouse ?"
But I'm a teacher. I'm also white. I have multi racial students. It's a high school. We do not say a word to anyone about his or her hair. We have a disproportionate number of red headed white kids with very thick hair . Some of them don't choose to wrestle with it much. We have Polynesian girls with hair to their knees. We have black girls with weaves and dreads and sparkles and colored yarn. We have Hispanic girls with long wavy hair. Sometimes they wear a tight bun instead. If they are on the nursing education track at tech or culinary or carpentry they all have to control and cover their hair. Those kind of work rules make sense. The other rule is clearly discriminatory. Black hair takes the most time. I've heard white hair described as "wake and shake ". But for black women it is a time tax and chemicals aren't good for you. Dreadlocks can be styled once a week and washed in place. Not every black woman wants short hair. It should not be the employer's business if it is clean.
2
Nobody should be shamed like this. But parents should be completely familiar with the rules they are buying into before sending their kids to school rather than seeing what they can get away with after the fact, often by threatening litigation. Rules are rules and schools shouldn't be expected to cave to accommodate one person's whim. Anyway, kids are far too captivated by fashion and celebrity that knows no limits on behaviour or appearance.
2
Every time I watch wings flying all over the place on the Jerry Springer show, I feel disappointment surging through me. I am a black man originally from Ethiopia, and I just don't understand why our sisters would submit to such blatant cultural domination. But then, I heard how thousands of plastic surgeries are conducted all over Asia to give people there a more Western look. I was really surprised. When I was a child back in Ethiopia where I grew up, when we see white people with blue eyes, we looked at them in wonder - why do these people have "cat eyes?" - we wanted to know. And I wonder these days - was that because Ethiopia has never been colonized? I think so, and thank God for that!
2
@Daniel Solomon - Ethiopia was never colonized? Perhaps not to the extent that occurred elsewhere, but have you never heard of Mussolini?
3
Living in nyc I see all different hairstyles. Every morning I see all races of people packed on the subway going to work. I think natural black hair is beautiful and black women should only wear wigs or weaves by choice. I know black people were historically told that their hair wasn’t beautiful and I’m sorry many people are still affected by this view. I have very curly hair (I’m white) and I have to use expensive products to control my curls. Without product my hair is not curly, just a mess of frizz. In our present society, their is no “natural” option for me. There is no such concept of frizzy, natural white hair. I’ve experimented and people are nicer to me when I style my hair. When I wear it natural, people look at me less and assume I’m not in control of my life. EVERYONE has an opinion about curly hair. People always tell me I should try this product or cut it a different way, but what they don’t realize is that I’ve lived with these curls many years and this is it - this is as good as it gets. There is no improved option. One time I went to a concert and I was dancing and my full ponytail was whacking the person behind me. She told me and I adjusted my hair so it wouldn’t be in her way. Sometimes hair can be annoying, but it’s just hair.
5
African hair has such wonderful texture and there are so many cool things you can do with it. I've never understood why African Americans so often choose mediocre imitations of straight hair. I admired fancy, tiny braids, so I tried it once or twice. It looked beyond awful After that, I stuck to hair style that suit my straight hair.
1
I grew up hearing "black is beautiful." This was the 60's and 70's where natural was wonderful. Nothing has changed since then. In fact, it seems that people are judged less often on their hair styles, except for the fads like the man bun, which I hopes dies a quick death.
Natural styles are not a fad and we have centuries to support that. When was the last time someone said, "white is beautiful?" It's time to acknowledge how beautiful people of any race are and stay clear of arbitrary and potentially racist characterizations.
7
I wish I could do such creative hair styles and change my look. I have bone straight, fine hair that won't grow past a certain length, and when it does, it looks lank. I have to keep it short. I totally admire black women and their creativity!
2
Authority figures' obsession with hair or whatever and not-authority figures' reaction to that obsession has probably been going on since the dawn of time so to speak. In my youth (far enough back to be whites only school) it was obsession with boy's hair style (mainly length) and girl's skirt length. The more things change the more they stay the same. Sigh.
It is my impression that more often than not, even well meaning White people, when initially meeting a new Black employee, will attempt to size that person up, looking for cues as to what kind of Black person they're dealing with.
In my experience, it seems like many White people have a few stereotypical boxes that they try to put Black people into - some oversimplified variation of educated, middle class and safe or combative and from the hood.
Rather than objectively seeing people as complicated and idiosyncratic individuals, which is really the more rational and educated viewpoint, they instead have these hopelessly biased and oversimplified preconceptions about Black people.
Given this, perhaps without even realizing it, they will interpret cues about a new Black person in the workplace in order to assign them to their preconceived stereotype box. Cues from manner of speech to attire to their household situation, will be interpreted by White people as confirmation for or against some unfair, biased, stereotypical preconception.
Hairstyles act as such a cue, rightly or wrongly. (Wrongly.) I can only imagine that these biases and stereotypes must be intolerable to Black people. Right out of the gate, a White majority workplace with these intrinsic biases is unfair and puts Black people at a disadvantage.
We all have enough struggles in our careers, without adding the burden of needing to also prove ourselves better than these insidious cultural preconceptions.
1
I've never understood why people seem to think that the length, color, or style of one's hair affects one's ability to do a job. As far as "corporate image" goes, I much prefer a lawyer or banker who clearly think for him/herself than a conformist corporate drone.
4
The author doesn't address safety. In certain jobs such as a chemistry/science lab with Bunsen burners (open flames) or jobs like welding or even bike courier where hair would have to fit under a helmet, some African American hairstyles would work better than others. Of course, certain white women's hairstyles might work better than others and even really long beards could be dangerous around open flames. Hope the author would be willing to suggest general safety guidelines that would work for all races (and maybe both genders.)
1
Back in the late 60s and early 70s, long hair for a white person would eliminate you from consideration for "serious" jobs and flunk one out on job exams without reason. So would some variations on facial hair. This is not to preclude prejudice against race when it comes to hair. Rather, generational and cultural also come into play when it comes to hair.
5
Many of the comments that I read defending the status quo seemed to assume that hairstyles favored by white people were a neutral business default, rather than a result of the historical dominance of white men over everyone else. This is the essence of discrimination. The business norm is ( and must be) the white man in a suit. The farther a person deviates from that norm, the less businesslike they are. We all must actively challenge these assumptions if we are to create the meritocracy we say we want.
4
In the '60s white boys were sent home for long hair - it couldn't touch their collars. White girls could not have hair below their shoulders, dyed hair or streaks. Black students had the size of their afros measured. School policies evolve, but I don't think they are aimed at any one race, just at students who test the norm.
Facial hair has been accepted now in sports and the military, where it was absolutely not allowed.
5
By seeking to control, mainly people of color, hairstyles or forms of headdress e.g., hijab or tignon, etc., be due to jealousy? I've been told that hair has become an "accessory", so is this nothing more than an attempt to define or force an "acceptable" standard, by some people, in order to subordinate the humanity and or beauty of another?
1
As a white man, I have been pulled aside at work and told that my clothing comes across as conservative and patriarchal, and therefore raises barriers with "non-majority" students. I work at a prestigious university in the midwest and typically wear slacks and a button-up shirt.
This will strike a lot of readers as absurd. But, I have not struggled to remind folks, gently, to mind their own business.
To me that's the key. It shouldn't be hard for people to realize two things, even if they had never thought about them before: first, black hair does not naturally behave the way other hair does, and second, the idea of policing a white woman's hair-style is uproariously funny for almost any workplace you can imagine.
You can lawyer workplace conduct codes for "consistency" all you want. White women can shut down this sort of nonsense with a mere change in facial expression, and their hair isn't the same to begin with.
2
Odd-looking (by that I mean unusual, out-of-the-ordinary) grooming always runs a risk of turning the close-minded off when worn. Odd-looking hair is an example. White women with brightly-colored hair, or myself, when I had shoulder-length hair and spent time in Georgia in the 60's (I am male) will get comments. Race is not a particular factor.
16
Give me a break! It's possible, but highly unlikely that the author of this article had these hairstyles from your stock photo library in mind when she wrote the article. The children that she cited in the article who ran into problems at their schools had hair that was far more "professional" than these avant-garde styles. I am also an African-American attorney and unless I was exclusively representing artists I would not want someone working for me who sported most of the hairstyles shown--at the office.
I sincerely hope the next time Ms. Tabacco Mar (or anyone else for that matter) submits an article to a publication bearing her name that she gets a commitment that she be allowed to review any text, photos or graphics that are not solely written or submitted by her prior to publication.
22
The hairstyles in this article’s photos - they are gorgeous. And I’m delighted that I’ve started to see hints of these sorts of styles in the professional world...that’s the sort of freedom of expression that makes life beautiful.
3
I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Mar's argument. I am a white woman of Mediterranean descent, and I have hair that is neither curly nor straight. Left to its own devices, it is best described as uneven frizz. I feel pressure to straighten my hair in order to look "professional." (Let's not even get started on the pressure to wear cosmetics for the same reason!) I frankly resent the time and effort it takes on a daily basis. Meanwhile men roll out of bed, quick shower, and run the electric razor--done, aside from the inexpensive haircut every six weeks. Unfortunately nothing will change until the image of professionalism for women is diversified away from the white, straight-haired, made-up archetype.
16
Your point is well taken, but men’s lax hair routines are not about any professionalism or double standards—it’s that short hair generally takes less effort to style. Men with long hair and/or beards have a similar daily problem.
4
@zizi-k--When I was in my 20s, I had uneven frizzy blonde hair. I was constantly belittled, badgered, mocked, etc.
Somehow, in my later years, my hair became much less frizzy and straighter. I still resent all that time spent by others focusing on and degrading my hair. In fact, I hope those detractors are all bald by now.
As far as I can remember this issue was resolved in 1968-69. What's happened?
3
It’s been building up for awhile... it’s just that mainstream media is finally picking up on it
1
It depends in what environment a woman works what is considered acceptable--that includes what clothes and what makeup and what accessories AND what hairstyle the women, white and black, choose to wear. The women in the first two photos have extreme hairstyles which are not a necessary part of being black. You won't find a white woman in the insurance industry with extreme hairstyles either, whatever texture their hair is. What I do see regularly are professional women with neatly kept dreadlocks in more and more business environments.
12
While dress/grooming codes can serve positive functions, the rules most often in place, and most frequently enforced, are rooted in racial, ethnic, class, and gender biases.
15
I understand that this usually happens to black people, but my son, who is "white" (although with a diverse heritage from all over the world), has dreadlocks also when he wears his hair long. He had dreadlocks all through high school, with mixed reactions from school officials and local authorities. Once some police called me to say a suspicious person was "lurking" around my house. I asked for a description, then laughed and told them the suspicious person was my son. When my son was a senior, he was chosen "Best Hair," which was printed underneath his picture in his class yearbook. He had his haircut very short right before his picture was taken so people would always wonder, "Why was he chosen Best Hair?" Of course I can laugh now, but it was sometimes a little scary to have him wear such long dreadlocks in our small suburban city. Even now, when he has much less hair, TSA asked him a few years ago, when he was returning from a visit to New Zealand, how long he was planning to visit America!
13
@DB - TSA... that is a good example. Society gives us plenty of reasons to adopt a conforming, non-descript appearance. I have absolutely no desire to attract the attention of TSA when I'm passing through an airport, or even more so, the eyes of the police when I'm walking down the street. It means I forego the freedom of dressing flamboyantly and with theatrical flair. It's a loss of freedom, a sacrifice or trade-off I choose to make.
To some extent we all face limitations on our freedom. Of course, I'm not Black. When mere "Blackness" is enough to draw the suspicious eyes of Authority, and when there is no way to hide it, then the daily onslaught Blacks face, simply because of the color of their skin, must be very psychologically challenging. I can't pretend to grasp it. All I can do is try not to fall into the mistake myself and exert what little influence I have in my small sphere of life to make the world a better place.
I spend a bit of time in the UK every year and friends there have children in school. School uniforms seem to be the norm there. It doesn't seem to be a problem for them, as far as I can tell.
I see the appeal of them. They are an equalizing force in the school. They promote a sense of community among the children and by eliminating fashion they eliminate a factor of competition and one-upmanship between the students. Yes, it means buying an outfit. But then it replaces an outfit they didn't have to buy. So really, assuming the price of the uniform is in line with clothes in general, it's no financial burden to anyone except the very poorest of the poor, who by all means should be afforded assistance.
There are so many ways to express oneself. At school it does not have to be through clothing. There's ample time outside of school for that.
Of course the whole thing is capable of abuse. Rules on hair can become unreasonable and promote prejudice. But that doesn't mean that the basic concept of uniforms and basic restrictions on appearance are invalid.
18
@J Jencks, but uniforms and hair are two separate elements. If people are essentially forced to spend money and time to damage their hair to conform to an unrealistic standard, it isn't a choice, it is a racially-based penalty.
2
"The court reasoned that discrimination based on race is forbidden because, it said, race is immutable, while hairstyles can be changed. It’s true that hairstyles involve some degree of personal choice, but that doesn’t give employers free rein to discriminate against workers who wear dreadlocks."
No, the fact that hairstyles are perfectly mutable means exactly that employers have free rein to "discriminate" against any hairstyle they want.
9
Private institutions have the right to set their own rules around what they find appropriate or not and it can cover hairstyles and uniforms. Often (mostly always) these rules are stipulated prior to registration and enrollment. Often these rules have been in place for a long time and have helped contribute to the schools overall reputation and tradition. It is a parent and student's responsibility to be aware of these rules and be prepared to follow them.
Why do people think they can attend these schools and then claim they are singled out for their own personal choices that run afoul of these rules?
If you had a problem with these rules then you shouldn't go. It is really that simple.
What's next an atheist going to a Catholic school and then complaining about having to pray? Or someone taking offense to the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance?
Rules are rules and if they are applied fairly that's the what should matter.
40
I think you fundamentally missed the point of this article... please re-read it before commenting.
As stated in the article, even the military, a very conservative organization, came to realize that their “standards” with respect to black hair were overly restrictive and were thus changed.
2
@Norville T Johnson
"Rules are rules and if they are applied fairly that's the what should matter."
Actually rules can be structured very easily to promote injustice and prejudice. These are the kinds of rules the author is writing about.
We SHOULD object to these kinds of rules. They may not be as blatant as the sign over the water cooler that says "Whites Only", but they can be written with the same intent and result.
1
We live in a culture of victimization. The left teaches that minorities do no wrong—anything that ever happens to a minority is due to the system treating them unfairly. For example, a minority student I know who did not get a job offer from a top-tier law firm claimed it was due to racism. Never mind that the student had mediocre grades at a low ranked law school. No, it was racism. The pathology of victimization must end. Racism is real. It is not even close to everything.
5
Who chose the photographs accompanying this article?
Most of the people I see wearing dreadlocks/locs are wearing them in styles that are much more mainstream and less attention-grabbing than the ones shown in the photos.
The photos show styles that are fairly "out there" -- unsurprisingly, given that two of them are from the Afropunk Festival, and the whole ethos of punk is about challenging conventional music, appearance, etc.
These photos don't seem representative of people seeking to wear dreadlocks/locs at work or at school. As a result, they're undercutting the author's argument.
84
The 2 lead photos are stunning and I like them. I struggle to understand what is "natural" about them though. I guess the author's idea is that they were accomplished without the use of chemicals.
I'm a white male, now past middle aged and balding. However when I was young, fresh out of architecture school, I could have used "natural" means of a razor and a bit of hair gel to give myself a mohawk. I had the hair for it. Had I done it and made it a part of my daily image I would never have gotten a job in a major architecture firm though. That's simply the way the world was when I was a young man. Young men who expected to work in the "professions" and earn the requisite salary arrived in the office early, in a white shirt, with a necktie, hair in one of the acceptable styles, definitely not long or a mohawk, though these would have been perfectly natural for my hair texture.
Call it what you will, it's not "freedom" for any of us.
Don't misunderstand me. I am NOT arguing that the limitations on my freedom, as a white man, approached anything near the limitations on freedom of women or African-Americans. But don't labor under the illusion that I was "free". No one is free in this society.
Maybe in this article hair was a bad choice of an example for the constraints on freedom.
Fortunately society is evolving in a better direction. There are architecture firms that would hire a woman with hair like that. I would, assuming she had the skills and personality for the work.
23
In 1975 when during my first year in law school at the University of Tennessee College of Law, wore my hair alternating between an "Angela Davis afro" and braids. Many black and white people assumed it was a symbolic black protest statement or some sort of signal of sexual preference, but for me it was an affirmation of my right to be there "nappy hair" and all. For mine was an admission earned on the merits of my academic achievements and scholastic test scores rather than based on the privileges guaranteed and passed down by my ancestors like most of my white colleagues and without the need for any "affirmative action" which was really whispered code for "they are not really equal." Near the end of my second year I changed my hair style to a traditional shorter haircut as it became clear to me that my hair style choices, and what others thought they implied, began to dominate the conversation as to who I was rather than the focus being on the content of my character or the merits of my legal ability. "Unconventional, militant, radical, too black and faggity" were the most often whispered comments. Afterward the haircut, the words frequently spoken out loud were "natural leader, best appellate advocate, really bright, law review material, really nice person." Who changed? Me or my reviewers? Both?
22
Some of us can remember the time from the civil rights movement of the sixties when black people decided to allow their hair to grow out naturally into this strange style called -- and "Afro" --
The white power structure was immediately threatened by this display of "Black Power" - as blacks chose to free themselves from the socially-acceptable style of close-cropped hair for black men, and conservatively-styled hair for black women --
Black workers were told they could not come to work with an "Afro" and were either fired, or sent home and told not to return until after they'd been to the barber --
The pictures of black civil rights leaders in Afros were terrifying to the white people who ran the show - and they tried to quash it and nip it in the bud - unsuccessfully, as we now know --
But - to quote Ronald Reagan - "Here we go again" -
There is a definite line between "fashion" and "power" - and the white power structure still likes to think they are the ones who are in charge of making that distinction --
Also -
A friend of mine works for a major cultural non-profit here in New York City --
A few years ago - a young white woman appeared for a job interview and was seen as the front-runner to get the job --
The woman had a few tattoos on her arms - and at her interview, the HR manager told her that if she wanted to work there, she would be required to keep her tattoos covered at all times -
The woman thanked her - and walked out - so it works both ways...
13
There are some great points made in the article, but I'm sorry, the woman with feathers in her hair is clearly trying to hard. It's pretentious and unless she is interviewing for an alt-rock band I don't think she would get the job.
27
Yeah, and good luck to her if that’s the kind of job she’s interviewing for; those “alt-rock” bands aren’t hiring like they did back in the 90s, gramps.
1
As long as it's clean and doesn't literally interfere with work duties (i.e., hanging in a machine you're operating or food you're preparing or something), it is nobody's business what kind of hair or hairstyle you have. Your hair is a dead thing on your head and it has no effect on your ability to work, especially in an office setting.
It is critical that people's treatment of black hairstyles as "unprofessional" be put to an end. But the easiest way to do that is to remind employers that our bodies belong to us, not them. Period. To corporate america, I say get out of my hair.
15
@Claire -- you can always apply for a job at companies that have a more liberal outlook.
Btw, hair extensions are not "natural" hair.
2
@Claire Why is it not also "critical" that fat, old or unattractive white people not be excluded from employment? Why are biases against certain black hairstyles more "critical" than any of the other hiring biases harming millions of Americans?
People have a right to wear their hair as they please. That being said, I -- as a white man -- would not have considered it politic to have shown up for an executive position interview with a Mohawk cut, a handle bar mustache, or wearing a powdered wig like George Washington.
32
@Penseur
Yes, but for black hair to look "white and neat" it requires a lot of serious chemicals (burns happen) and a lot of money to have a professional do it. Not to speak of the weekly hours spent on all this.
1
Wherever you work or otherwise associate, there will be a culture. You either choose to be part of it, or you choose not to be.
20
Best argument for affirmative action ever.
Seriously? Black, white, brown or otherwise, the hairstyle pictured on the left is radical by any standards. While it represents personal choice, it is so far outside the mainstream that its likely not representative of what this article is trying to convey. I hope.
28
@Mark That's not the type of hairstyle the writer is talking about.
The editor is very much at fault for choosing such photos to attract attention to your viewpoint expressed in the article.
There are absolutely no natural hairgrowth patterns that represent what we were shown.
That being said, there are a variety of styles of hair, and as a frizzy white kid as a youth, was very much aware that the only way I could be at all part of the group, was to keep it buzzed short.
Then, in post graduate school, I learned that the employer and the school, which was caring for the whole gamut of patients, had some say in how we looked. There were guidelines about ties (which were required) to be fastened or tucked in to keep the germ laden clothing from touching those we cared for. Made sense, and now there are rules, based on good science, for acrylic nails and others styles of adornment.
Like it or not, non-bigotted people from various backgrounds feel strongly about the way people touching and caring for them look. Just as we need to be respectful about touching or adjusting apparel on those we care for, they are as concerned about long hair touching them or not being able to have their food preparers wear health-required hair nets. To have someone with long, uncontrolled hair (beard or head) constantly touching is worrisome.
I have come a long way in the last six decades, but sttill feel that someone who, while having their own personality to exhibit, fits within the scope of what the average person will be able to feel comfortable.
6
What does any of this have to do with children attempting to learn at school?
As a Jewish (white) woman working in an institution where many if not most of my co-workers are African- or Carribean-Americans, I am aware that the whole topic of black hairstyles is a sensitive one, and I refrain from commenting, even when I would like to compliment someone on her amazing braids. Personally, I think many of the styles I see are beautiful and creative. However, many workplaces do have dress codes. For example, I am not allowed to wear jeans, shorts or open toed shoes, to mention just a couple of restrictions. So it seems to me that black hairstyles could be natural (with or without extensions, color, etc) without going to extremes (such as the feathers shown in the picture) that would be considered inappropriate in some more conservative workplaces. And if one chooses to work in such an environment, a certain amount of concession to standards is to be expected, I'm afraid.
28
What a lot of white people don't get is this: braids and extensions are natural to us. And I'll wager a lot of black hairstyles you think are "natural" are actually weaves and extensions. As for choosing to work in an environment, we don't have a choice. In some cases, the hairstyle was allowed until it wasn't.
@Afi writes: "What a lot of white people don't get is this: braids and extensions are natural to us."
------
They aren't natural; they're cultural. No one is born with braids or extensions, nor do they develop during adolescence.
3
The U.S. Navy is also now in the 21st century and allowing dreadlocks. In the 80's at my first professional position as a young white woman with long, frizzy hair I was told to cut my hair or not expect any favorable regard from the male management. So I kept my hair long, put in a year, and then moved on.
6
I like what Oscar Wilde once said, "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Pretending someone you're not doesn't become anyone.
8
@Urmyonlyhopebi1
For all his wonderful talent, Oscar Wilde didn't understand much about surviving in his own society. He literally was destroyed and died because he didn't understand the consequences of being himself unfiltered.
Life is not a play or a poem.
The idea that you can always be yourself is nonsense. Everyone makes compromises, while continuing to fight the true injustices.
A hair style for a professional environment should
be clean, neat, and not so weird that's it's distracting.
For example, in the 1st photo, the shaved head with the hair on top. Personally, I don't care for the hair "hat" but as it appears clean and neat, neither my personal taste, nor anyone else's, should be the deciding factor.
2
Michael Jackson knew that the only real way to obtain some form of integration and acceptance in white society was to become “white”. If not figuratively then literally. True integration for any coloured person demands one almost becomes indistinguishable from white people in act and deed. You can’t go around behaving like a black person with a heritage and culture because that is just too threatening apparently.
8
@Tony Francis. Michael Jackson had vitiligo.
@Tony Francis, and that accommodation kept Jackson perpetually dissatisfied with his looks to the point of body dysmorphia.
It’s all about submission to (and conformity) with the dominant (dreadfully dull) culture. But the times are finally changing (thank goodness) so straight, tightly controlled (anglo-ish) tresses will soon be a relic of our inglorious hair-story.
7
While I agree with the content of the article, the pictures selected do not represent black hairstyles adopted by black women in a business setting. I’ve sported a ‘TWA’ (teeny-weenie Afro), for my entire 40 year professional career. I’ve also worked with sisters with beautiful braided styles and locs. There are many natural black hair styles for professional environments - they are not included in this article. You disappointed me this time, NYT.
413
@DSmyth I was curious about that too. The text of the article is great, and the pictures are gorgeous, but punk is by definition not mainstream, so why would they run that as examples?
8
@DSmyth
In the movie Working Girl, the female character had to change her hair and dress style, in order to be taken seriously in the business environment.
I know that is true then and it is true today.
Then, I was of age. I wore suits and high heels to work ... in a hospital as a unit secretary. My hair was in a french-roll and my make-up perfect. But as I became better educated, which equals sleep deprived, things began to change. Well, honestly. It was much cheaper to live on my wage with less hair, less make up, and in scrubs. Strange, but it was only then that I was accepted by the nursing staff on my unit.
In every situation, we are involved in tribal thinking. I live in France now. I never leave home without lipstick. I avoid other expats because all the club members seems to stay where they were parked when they moved to France.
For a global world, I believe, tribal thinking is a disease. Humanity will not last long with this type of thinking.
Soon, already, China is going to be the leader of Earth Culture. We who are not of Chinese culture need to adapt, that's regardless of our nationality and gender and race and religion. The Chinese leaders have understood that well-planned education is mandatory and thus they have made it possible. They have an agenda and it's planned prosperity far into the future.
The Lone Ranger is now a laughable commodity. Trump is too short sighted to succeed.
2
@DSmyth I was thinking the very same thing...
On the subject of "black hair": Does anyone remember that wonderful picture where Barack Obama bent down to let a little black boy touch his hair? That was such a poignant moment, saying to that little boy, and to all African-Americans, that yes, I am like you, I am here in this office--we have the same hair, we can all achieve this.
Can anyone imagine Trump bending down to let anyone touch his ... umm ... well, whatever that is on his head? Not in a million years.
65
@Expat Annie Yes, I remember the picture of Obama. But I also remember that Obama kept his hair very short and didn't support an Afro - very wise, and also very attractive. He is a very handsome man!
@Expat Annie -- that 'whatever' thing on his head -- it's a marmot. And if you touch it, you risk waking it up. While not (typically) fierce, a decent marmot can nearly deafen anyone in range with their incredibly L O U D whistle.
So, best for everyone concerned to just let our Liar in Chief hide his blindingly-shiny pate....
1
One of our grandchildren (white) started a private Catholic pre-school this month and could not enter because he had a Mohawk hairdo. He came back after his hairdo was corrected. It is all pretty ridiculous.
3
Why?
Hmm....let me think...its right there...so close...
Oh, oh, I know, I know...pick me, pick me!!
Racism! Full-on, racism. Its an obvious "black" identifier.
Compounded by a huge amount of envy. Esp. white women. Who can not co-opt any of the looks, without looking 1. like they're deliberately and excessively borrowing, and 2. looking foolish. Whereas black women, or those with similar hair, can always co-opt white hair-styles...and many times do it way better. IMO.
If a white girl (or boy) can wear hair long and out, or permed, or whatever else they might do to it - then a black girl (or boy) should be as able.
Or else make the rules severe in ways that inhibit all hair types.
How about buzz cuts for all? And when your grades reach a certain level, you get to choose a more individual style.
3
@Boregard
Speaking of racism..."a huge amount of envy especially white women."
There is a standard of professional dress and hygiene in the world of traditional business. While some creative careers demand less adherence, the idea is to present oneself as a representative of the company one is employed by without personal punctuation.
If an employee (man, woman, all races & genders) wishes to express themselves through hair color and or hairstyle--either do so during one's free time, or find employment without these standards.
2
@Boregard You hit nail on the head with this statement.
Really? You need to ask?
Driving while black, the over representation of blacks in prisons etc.. etc... did not cue you in?
7
I know there was a problem with it during the presidential election, but I'm starting to think that the articles themselves are written by Russian trolls.
12
If an “inappropriate hairstyle” is a legitimate disqualification for employment in the U.S., there is a certain federal worker, the ridiculous looking one with the contrived, swept-back orange locks desperately trying to cover his baldness, that never should have been allowed in the front door.
74
... and... we have a winner!
@John Grillo
OK, funny but:
It is not Trump's idiotic hair styling that makes him completely unqualified. If he was a decent human being, I for one, would not give a thought to his hair. It is the brain part of his head that concerns me, not what covers it.
1
I wish liberal thinkers wouldn't step on their own arguments so much. The top photo, with the woman with the afro-punk hairstile with feathers behind her ear, is about as natural as a white person with a spiked mohawk. Why include this actual extreme hairstyle in an article about how normal black hairstyles - like the rest of the photos and video - are being called extreme? Are you trying to incite conservatives to dismiss your argument? The true story of the students being sent home from for their totally normal hairstyle choices is a perfect example of the issue. Why muddy your argument with the obvious exception at the top?
19
Chris Rock made a great documentary called "Good Hair" in 2009. Still very much worth seeing! Here is the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m-4qxz08So
More women of color wear natural hairstyles today, embracing natural beauty. To feel compelled to use corrosive chemical relaxers or to spend a fortune on weaves and extensions, seems outdated. And yet, here we are -- with lawsuits filed to combat biased school practices.
These blatantly discriminatory school policies -- both racially and by gender -- have to end. The fact that some branches of the military have seen the light and updated their policies is a good sign. Now the rest of country needs to follow suit.
13
@Mary Owens
It was a lousy film. Rock treated the whole thing as a joke, didn't deeply explore why so many black women (including his then-wife) felt the need to wear fake straight hair, and toward the end he let stand a scene in which two ignorant high school students who probably had never met a lawyer cautioned a girl with a nice, moderate natural style that she couldn't be a lawyer because she didn't look professional.
1
Great article, but the headline "Why is black hair against the rules?" makes no sense with its content.
5
So banning hair extensions in Gretna demonstrates "bias against natural black hair"?
8
This is absurd. First, whether the writer likes it or not, other people have a right to their own preferences; I am NOT obligated to like anyone's hair (or anything else about them) just because they are black. Secondly, people are denied employment all the time because their hair is the wrong color, especially if it is grey, or missing, as in bald due to hair loss. Taking that further, people of ALL races are denied employment and/or are ridiculed all the time for their body size, its shape, its state of disability, its perceived unattractiveness or its age. so what makes black people's alleged hair problems so much more important than the problems of thousands of other (nonblack) people, whose hardship is completely ignored, especially by this publication? I guess this is just one more instance of ONLY black lives matter.
19
I'm a criminal and civil rights attorney, so you think I would be screaming is support of what this author writes. Unfortunately, as many have noted, dreadlocks are not how anyone's hair grows naturally, just as the gold hoop earnings in my ears did not grow out of them when I was born, nor grow back if I took them out. I did in fact take them out whenever I was not on my own time, and I changed my haircut as well, despite the fact that because of my ethnicity my hair has never done anything I wanted it to do. As an attorney I was representing indigent people who needed all the help I could give them, which meant it was about what they needed, not some sense of style based on my idea of promoting my ethnicity. My problem is that appears that author somehow feels that everything is about her. It never is, especially when you are an attorney and your job is to represent other people who really need your help.
40
@Robert B
You are wrong when you say, "dreadlocks are not how anyone's hair grows naturally." They are not how YOUR hair grows naturally, I'm sure. For some hair-textures, however, they are a very low maintenance style - one of very few styles that allow hair to grow long without expensive relaxers or extensions.
I see a lot of people on here making all of these bold yet jaw-droppingly ignorant comments about black hair. Having no information, no experience, and no frame of reference at all doesn't seem to dent their self confidence or their self righteousness. They don't know even the most basic things about black hair, but they are happy to pronounce about how it works. What's to know, right? I bet they'd all get mad though if I said "white privilege."
2
"... dreadlocks are not how anyone's hair grows naturally... " ---Robert B.
Wrong. I'm pretty White, but, if I don't brush my hair, the dreads DO appear, invited or otherwise.
1
@Robert B
AMEN!
1
To be fair, the 11-year-old girl sent home from a private Catholic school for wearing hair extensions was violating a school policy that applied to all students. The school's handbook stated: "Only the student's natural hair is permitted. Extensions, wigs, hair pieces of any kind are not allowed." There is no evidence that the girl was discriminated against, there is no evidence that non-black students were allowed to get away with wigs and extensions.
Eleven-year-old girls best be focused on their education instead of spending hours in front of the mirror everyday trying to emulate the sex symbols of the day. Elementary school is for education, not for students to flaunt their fashion sense and obsession with appearance.
And really, dress codes are nothing new. When I was in school, there were limits on how short a skirt could be, a no shorts policy, no untucked skirts.
But it was insensitive of the school to send the girl home. It woudl have been better to take her aside, reiterate the policy to her and advise her not to come to school again with extensions and artifice in her hair.
189
@Earthling I think you miss the point. Styles like box braids, which often require extensions, are styles that take the less time to get ready on a daily basis and allow students to focus more on their studies. The dress code as applied forces students of color to choose between styles that require caustic chemicals, huge amounts of time on a daily basis, or very high-cost styles. They are being penalized for choosing practical styles that work for their hair.
You're right that dress codes are nothing new, nor is there anything new about dress codes being written and applied with the dominant white culture as the only model of what is "appropriate".
25
@Earthling Rules aren’t bias free. They deserve to be challenged when they amount to direct or indirect discrimination. Schools hide behind the “school rules” excuse for many outdated, discriminatory and pointless practices that waste class and teacher time that could be far better directed to actual learning.
School uniform and hairstyle haven’t been identified as contributing to the success of our greatest thinkers or leaders. Leave the past behind.
6
@Earthling Your assumptions that braided hairstyles require "spending hours in front of the mirror everyday trying to emulate the sex symbols of the day" and that girls who wear them don't think "Elementary school is for education, not for students to flaunt their fashion sense and obsession with appearance" demonstrate limited knowledge of black hairstyles.
Braided hair is popular with bookish little girls (like I was) precisely because it takes little time and effort before school. Braids are wash and wear hairstyles. Locs too. Chemically straightened hair, however, requires daily care, equipment and many products to maintain.
Girls should be able to wear their hair however they choose, but please don't pretend that banning children from wearing natural styles has anything to do with supporting their education. At best, it reflects the ignorance and assumptions of school leaders. At worst, it's overt racism.
17
Any interviewer for a job is going to judge an interviewee on the basis whether they are going to fit in and get the job done or are they just a lawsuit waiting to happen. This test applies equally to Muslim Burqas, Sikh Turbans, Black Dreadlocks, White Skinhead Piercings and Tattoos or the visibly handicapped in wheelchairs. An institutions instinct to circle the wagons and protect itself is strong. Managers who hire the wrong person will not be Managers for long so they will always tend to err on the side of caution. Showing up late, wearing sneakers, not being properly groomed for interviews will all be taken as warning signs. The corporate environment has gradually loosened up and what was unacceptable years ago is acceptable today. It is one thing to ask to be judged on your work alone from people familiar with you and quite another to ask people who don't know you to judge solely on your resume.
8
Ravens QB Robert Griffin III's new hairstyle was described by TV commentators during the telecast as being "aggressive". The hairstyle (shaven on the sides and two braids on the top) is not one commonly seen, but AGGRESSIVE? As if that is all that will take to have the Ravens go 13-3 this year.
Melanin is a weapon.
Race is immutable and yet there is a huge market for skin lighteners, chemical hair treatments, and plastic surgery for those of "non-classical" beauty to remold themselves into being more physically acceptable to Caucasians regardless of their merit or skill.
7
I can sympathize with what the writer says. However, in a professional setting, let's say if you are a redhead and your hair is extremely curly and bushy like the princess from Brave, I wouldn't recommend you leaving your hair like that to a job interview. At the end of the day it's all about the appearance of neatness.
9
I am white. My daughter in her 20's streak dyed her hair blue for awhile. I thought it a bad idea.
This may be generational, but in the workplace, we're hired to do a job. At work, it's not about YOU. Fashion "statements" are distracting.
As a NYC public school teacher, I wore a shirt and tie. I believed I was modeling dressing appropriately for work.
20
If you seek success as a rock musician, do not wear a business suit or a business haircut. If you are training people to be rock musicians, part of the education for their success would be presentation.
5
Black Hair against the rules?! Nonsense! Why is the New York Times coming up with such idiotic articles lately?!!!
26
Did you read beyond the headline?
12
Lots of soapboxing in this article.
23
Listen, if I see a white guy with punk fashion hair, I assume he’s not looking for a career in corporate.
34
Are you serious?
11
Thirty or so years ago my wife was in west Africa for a couple of weeks and like many a tourist had her hair braided. It looked pretty good but before she went back to work at *IBM* she of course picked it out.
What a crock.
7
@David
It's a "crock" to you because she didn't have to use harsh chemicals to straighten her hair, and expose herself to the health concerns (chemical burns happen at ethnic hair salons with sad regularity) nor spend thousands of dollars a year to maintain a "neat" (straight, white) hair in order to keep her job.
It's actually not a crock for the innumerable American women who have to spend 3-4 hours every Saturday at an ethnic hair salon just to keep their jobs.
30
The taboos against black hair, particularly for women, are extreme. Stylists typically attempt to straighten wavy / curly hair of -- straight hair is the mainstream beauty standard for all -- to the extent that hair is not straight it is othered.
13
Actually I’m enjoying the black hair styles. Looks like art to me. Also, it is a pleasure to see interesting and various colors on nail polish. People are more fashionable and that is a plus.
3
Well I have to admit, I don't get it. It's not the hair styles I don't get - I think they're awesome! - it's the attitudes of contempt and revulsion harbored by some critics. I am an older American of Norwegian heritage who grew up in a small town in a cultural backwater, so maybe it's surprising that I like diversity. But why not? As I pointed out to my very conservative sister who was horrified to meet a young friend of mine with long shaggy hair and beard - all that really matters to me is that people are nice. And besides, if we all had the same taste in hairstyles, clothing, home design, etc. the world would be a boring place.
28
why is anybody policing hair anymore anyway? i thought we gave that up in the 60's.
15
@slightlycrazy
Science (particularly chemistry) teachers/professors/lab instructors may need to police hair. Mainly to make sure styles are safe and won't fall in the Bunsen burners.
1
Dreadlocks, afros, dyed pink, spiked, stringy blond, shaved head, a middle aged white woman with a bad home-dye job, or anyone with that Grecian Formula stuff...it all depends...
Hair falling in the face - whether dreadlocks, blond angle cut, natural colored perm, silky black Asian - is not acceptable. It sends the message that you are hiding something.
Harsh scalp shaves send the message that you are rebellious and will push back at every turn...no boss wants an employee who works against them.
Unkempt, uncombed sends the message of either rebellion or low self esteem or lack of awareness. Note dreadlocks don't fall into this category, unless they do.
Just because it is natural doesn't make it appropriate. I'm of Scots descent...Would it be ok for me to leave my hair uncut and unstyled and unwashed and uncombed for months because that's the way they did it in 1630?
Several of the photos depict gorgeous, coiffed, stunning hair. The photos at top right and bottom right are just fine for an interview. the one at top left and bottom left violate...not at all because of the dreadlocks, but because of the shaved head and/or falling across the face.
Again, regardless of your gender, age, or race, your hair can speak volumes. Of course, if any of the women pictured, showed up for a job interview dressed as in the photos, they'd be sneered at for lack of propriety.
13
To anyone who thinks that that ethnic hair is a trivial or silly matter, note that just this morning the Republican candidate for governor of Florida warned voters not to "monkey this up". Appearance matters.
20
@Richard Schumacher: to "monkey something up" is to confuse, complicate or mess something up -- it is not racial at all.
I'd never think that term "monkey" referred to anybody's race.
3
I personally think most white people are jealous. I wish I could do things with my hair that black women can. I have seen absolutely beautiful styles on black women. The feathers everyone mentions are not in her hair they are on an ear band. The styles are awesome in my opinion.
4
@Catherine
You too are welcome to spend hundreds of dollars at the hair salon.
11
@Catherine Much of that hair you assume is their own is actually a wig or hair piece.
1
@Catherine thank you for your very astute assessment of "most white people".
1
I have lanky fine British hair that slips and slides out of any style I try to put it into. "Beachy waves" -- I am so over you! So I'm jealous of black hair and in constant awe at the magnificent things black women can do with their hair. I think people are just plain crazy for punishing kids or anyone over this.
I mean especially in the age when white conservative men are trying to look like extras on the Game of Thrones. Man-buns. Attila the Hun hairdon'ts. C'mon people. Be real.
25
These are antiquated White attitudes toward Black people in general. They are intimidated by such styles because they don't know how to "read" them. How in the world can you tell a Black person with hair texture like ours (so many different texture types at that) that they cannot wear their hair their own natural way??? The days of Blacks conforming to White ways is done, gone, Kaput, OVER! The best way to settle this ridiculous score is to hit them with a lawsuit every time. Sad, sad, sad.
15
why this rediculous intrusion into a woman's personhood?
could it be because they look stunning??
12
That black women are choosing to more fully embrace their naturally kinky hair is such a wonderfully, liberating thing. It saddens me that this movement is meeting rejection when black women are denied employment or girls and boys are expelled from school for wearing their natural hair. For women of color to be rejected this way is disheartening, almost as disheartening as seeing so many black women going out of their way to reject their African beauty by dyeing their hair blonde, wearing straight hair weaves or ruining their natural hair by straightening it to oblivion. Perhaps when black women fully accept their own natural beauty and stop emulating white women, then whites will more fully accept our natural beauty.
14
@Odehyah, yes - but I think black men should take some blame here too. I think when they stop choosing lighter skin partners, and black women with white attributes (like Beyonce), then perhaps we can get to this place.
But in a world where many, many black men date outside the race, perhaps this is driving this trend.
8
My heart breaks for the young girl crying in the video. However, I have to wonder what black parents are thinking sending their children to school in Gretna or even living there. Did they forget what happened in the aftermath of Katrina? As always, we need to stop begging these people for validation and begin accepting and validating ourselves. Enough already.
40
@Lynn in DC
"However, I have to wonder what black parents are thinking sending their children to school in Gretna or even living there. "
Thinking maybe people have a right to live anywhere they can afford to live in this country, perhaps.
Yes, back in the late '60s I was spat on, verbally insulted and chased down the street on occasion - all for having 'long' hair - that is, long enough to touch my back collar and creep over my ears.
A common experience back then.
You might say my peers and I weren't judged based on what we could contribute but on who we were and how we wore our hair.
11
Just look at what they put Serena Williams through--for her hair, her clothes!!!! Leave her alone for crying out loud. We all should look as good as she does. The nuns always taught us girls that your hair was your crown and glory and an expression of yourself. Take care of it and you will always look beautiful. I'm 64 years old, white, and I wear different hairdos all the time in whatever color I feel like. No one would ever to do me what is done to black women and children (no less!) Grow up America!
37
@kmgh Right, poor Serena with her millions of dollars a year salary. Cry me a river...
If what a school or company wishes to project via grooming standards is the impression that representatives respect themselves and others by demonstrating self-hygiene and appreciation of appearance, I cannot imagine a more appropriate hairstyle than box braids or dreads. The amount of time and care spent to pull off that elegance dwarfs your basic white-hair French braid. That’s where the fault in the anti-extensions (etc) argument lies.
7
OK: re the young African-American boy sent home from his school on the first day of classes for having dreadlocks.
MOST schools have dress/ hair codes for all students. Did his parents not read these? Or read these and allowed him to wear his hair that way anyway? Speaking as a person who has one of my (white) grandsons sent home from school due to his hair not conforming to the "rules"....I don't get it.
6
"It’s unthinkable that a court would uphold a policy that effectively required white workers to alter their hair texture through costly, time-consuming procedures involving harsh chemicals."
I have some issues with this article that have been mentioned by others--beards, men with long hair, etc. I also think that black women are probably discriminated against because of some hair styles. And generally I like dreads. But the statement above is silly. Black women aren't being to asked to STRAIGHTEN their hair.
And yes, I wish that Michelle Obama hadn't straightened her hair.
6
@Luciana I think Michelle Obama should be able to do whatever she wants with her hair. But I imagine that while working in a law office, she would be subject to the same dress code as everyone else.
I am sorry these WOC had to endure this cruel and thoughtless discrimination. We would do so much better as a society if we just made a real effort to confront institutionalized racism that is so entrenched in this country - rather than these smaller (yet important) battles. It reminds me of the "drinking straw debate" where folks are quick to condemn something... eliminating straws (while important) is just a "drop in the bucket" and the larger issue - environmental degradation due to unbridled capitalism - gets put off longer and longer.
2
There are a lot of writers here aghast that "white people" take negative notice of the differences of non-white people, complete with lectures about "white supremacy." Please. How about we talk about "people"?
In the early '80s, as a young, blonde teenager just out of high school, I had the privilege to travel way off the beaten path in parts of the South Pacific such as New Guinea, Vanuatu, remote islands in Fiji, Palau and other nations where I was a real anomaly. In most places I was treated as an object of curiosity, even good luck, and was often asked for a small lock of my hair. In some places I was looked at with suspicion, as my coloring was evidence of my consorting with spirits.
When I landed in Japan with my by-then travel mate, a Thai woman, I was really introduced to racism and "otherism."
Yes, it's something we all need to get over. Let's first look inward, for a start, okay?
8
Is this headline for real? Particularly when juxtaposed with the two photographs?
Perhaps it's not black hair that's against the rules. Perhaps it's only what some few women do with their black hair.
Just as in some places white women can't simply wear their hair any old way.
Or men, for that matter.
Watching who gets what higher position on the corporate or educational ladder, I'm convinced that tall people, no matter what color they are, on whose bodies fashionable clothing always looks good, are the ones who succeed.
Not much one can do about that. But looking neat and professional -- that's always a possibility.
11
@B.
@Iseult
"Just as in some places white women can't simply wear their hair any old way. "
I'm a white woman. Tell me, please, where these places are. I have never been in one all my entire life.
I've had to wear a hairnet on some jobs, but that's not really the same thing.
Correction on the name "Dred"locks. The style didn't come from Africa. It came from Rastafari in Jamaica. And the term isn't because white people found Black hair "dreadful." It's because the style inspires dread when so-called baldheads (non-dreads) see it.
In fact, African Americans didn't adopt the style en masse until the 80s/90s.
As for policing Black hair. I've been fighting that battle for 50 years, when I adopted my first 'fro at 13. (1967, to be exact). Unfortunately, it never ends.
10
@Afi Scruggs
Most people don't realize this, but dreadlocks were originally Jewish. The Jamaican Rastafarians took their dreadlocks from the Bible, from Numbers 6.1-21. This is Nazarite vow to abstain from any fruit of the vine, not to come near dead flesh, and not to cut or comb the hair.
This is the basis of the Biblical story of Samson, a Nazarite who lost his strength when Delilah cut his Israeli version of dreads.
Dreads are the most Biblican hairstyle a person could wear. It's insane that anyone could be harassed in a Christian school for wearing them. It's like cutting Samon's hair all over again.
Rastas took up the Nazarite vow as part of their religion and they named the hairstyle as you say they did.
But since dreadlocks are in fact part of a religious vow, an ancient vow from the Bible, I'd think anyone with dreads who is Rasta would have an automatic religious freedom defense here.
So sorry you had to fight for your own hair. Hopefully in the future we can do better.
“....a hairstyle said to be named by slave traders who viewed African hair texture as “dreadful.”
While I do agree that this is a form of discrimination, I have some news for you...as far as the origins of dreadlocks, (as opposed to the etymology of the name), they do not originate within native African communities.
If you do some research, you’ll see that dreadlocks are depicted on the Ancient Greek kouros and kore statues, Spartan warriors, Egyptian statues, photos of Native Americans north and south, and other native peoples globally.
So this isn’t necessarily simple racial discrimination because dreadlocks are not the sole cultural proprietary of African peoples. And I would imagine if anyone had long dreadlocks the reaction would be the same.
Not too long ago tattoos were socially frowned upon and if you have visible ones it excluded you from certain jobs. Heck the US military will still not take you if you have tattoos of a certain size and position.
This is more about culturally appropriate dress and hair styles than about race.
7
Actually the author of this article was wrong in her etiology for the word dreadlocks.
At the turn of the Twentieth Century, a socio-religious movement started in Harlem, NY by Marcus Garvey found an enthusiastic following amongst the Black population of Jamaica. This ecclectic group drew their influences from three primary sources (1) the Old and New Testaments, (2) African tribal culture, and (3) The Hindu culture that had recently become a pervasive cultural force in the West Indies.
The followers of this movement called themselves "Dreads," signifying that they had a dread, fear, or respect for God. Emulating Hindu and Nazarite holymen, these "Dreads" grew matted locks of hair, which would become known to the world as "Dreadlocks" - the hair-style of the Dreads.
1
" because of bias against natural black hair." Not quite! One focuses on hair when laws, mores, and other control processes do not enable existing racism, discrimination, dehumanization, exclusion, etc. to operate in a well rooted WE-THEY culture, and country, which violates, daily, selected, targeted people. Groups. Identities. Values. Consider, if students in a school situation would decide to come to school bald, and if, God forbid, should this become "trendy," like wearing expensively ripped clothing when one is not poor, would this newly created THEY be sent home?
The Handbook of Christ the King Parish School can be easily found on an internet search. My suggestion is that everyone first read the pertinent rules before making a comment, an informed comment. And for a more balanced perspective, read the Handbook of St. Augustine High School for their rules. Both of these schools are high respected.
Hair is natural; extensions are a way to make money.
8
If I were a hiring supervisor filling a professional position, why would I want an employee who looks like she’s got an octopus on her head?
The corporate world has certain standards for appearance. If you don’t want to follow them, you aren’t entitled to subvert them.
19
@scottthomas
But you will hire women with limp lifeless hair that looks like it's been fried to death in a giant vat of bleach?
By the way, since when did all of this matter more than one's actual productivity on the job?
Is this why our economy is a mess? Because corporations are all about looks? Is actual job performance something we no longer bother to honor with so much as a tiny mention?
@scottthomas, so your employment priority is look over substance/ability? Good to know.
I keep imagining what if people with naturally straight hair were required to have permanents? What if we were all required to bleach our hair blonde?
It's not right to require people to chemically treat their hair!
7
Would that it would be thought "unnatural" for someone to use caustic chemicals, have to spend more hours, and have to spend a lot more money, getting their hair to look like that of another race, day in and day out.
People with "Africa-descended" hair are at a distinct disadvantage because the dominant culture is Caucasian-centric. White people can roll out of bed and, if necessary, swipe a brush through their hair and look "presentable"; black people, not so much.
7
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "dreadlock" doesn't appear before 1960. According to the OED, Jamaican Rastafarians adopted the term because, they thought, it was the hairstyle worn by Ethiopian warriors, "Men of Dread."
8
@Egypt Steve
Pretty near accurate.
See my comments in this section.
I am an old white dude and I have always enjoyed people and their differences when it comes to personal style and appearances. These differences make for a fun and interesting world. I remember the day when what was called an afro or fro was the rage among hip African Americans and me being envious of hair that would go seemingly where they wanted it to go and mainly free and me with my limp light cow licked hair. I do understand that some jobs for safety reasons require restraint but otherwise let's get a life folks.
5
Talkin' 'bout good and bad hair,
Whether you're dark or you're fair,
Go on and swear see if I care,
Good and bad hair!
(Apologies to Spike Lee.)
1
I have never understood why someone would claim that (Black) natural hair is unacceptable. The only reason that makes sense is that we white people don't like it, that we want all people, all women, to wear hear like ours. And it is cruel to do this to kids, to tell them that their hair is unacceptable.
4
Back in the 1970's all hairstyles were excepted and copied by the masses.. Diana Ross wore an afro, Cicely Tyson and Bo Derek wore corn rows. Diversity was the norm.. Now we have become a country of accelerated uber conservatism and citizens of the United States of America are being discriminated and demoralized because of a "hairdo"!.. What are our priorities? Where did tolerance, acceptance and humanity go?
3
Remember the 60s? I'm sickened by the stuff women do to their hair now to look "beautiful" or even acceptable and saddened by the need to do it to get by. And that goes for me too -- my Jewish hair is a frizz ball that must be slicked down to look good enough for my white workplace.
Come on Michelle O -- what a difference that would make to quit the products.
3
@ana I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I said that hair is natural and extensions are a way to make money. Business cannot have people feeling good about themselves. What would they have to sell us then and why would we buy it?
1
Though this article has some blatant racial baiting let me give it a try. If this were the US Army there would be some plain written hair style standards; the hair can only be so long, it cannot touch the collar, the head cannot be shaved, it must fit under the head gear, etc. Many corporate environments also have explicit hairstyle regulations that are easily applicable to any race. Is "black" hair more amenable to radical hairstyling, probably, however that doesn't mean that your workplace should permit 15in afros when a 2in would be completely acceptable. Cornrolls if kept tidy, neat, and short also fall under the same category. Professional environments strive to promote a professional uniform look, if your hair looks like it came from a cartoon or an avant garde fashion show, its probably not professional regardless of your hair texture.
7
Only black people are punished for styles "consistent with their natural hair texture?"
That's so much malarkey it is difficult to know where to begin. As a lawyer, the author, presumably, has sufficient intelligence to know that tattoos, jeans, Mohawks and, yes, dreadlocks have no place in a professional office setting where clients have certain expectations. You meet those expectations or lose money, and that's just the way it is and always has been. If I needed too notch legal advice and I walked into a firm where lawyers cost $750/hr or thereabouts and folks had tattoos and weren't wearing ties and had head wraps on, I would think twice. Racist? Maybe, maybe not. But the list of what's not appropriate in a law firm contains a lot more items than dreadlocks.
22
There is a lot of pressure to make "ethnic hair" look like "white hair" -- not just for black girls and women, but for Indian, Persian, Jewish, Italian, Greek (and many other) women as well, many of whom chemically treat their curly hair to straighten it, travel with flat irons, and avoid pools and the rain (myself included).
13
I saw Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman recently and the ladies with more natural hair styles looked pretty fine to this viewer.
50
Have you noticed how few older white women don't dye our hair? I'm one of the few gray-haired women in my workplace, and a minority in most places I go. I don't at all equate this with the pain of Ms. Mar's experience because I don't expect it would cost me a job (or get me suspended from school, if I were to return to school!). Gray hair isn't forbidden by dress codes as natural black hairstyles often are. But I feel sad that so many older women feel a need to color our hair, and I feel sad that so many of the black women I know feel it necessary to alter or cover their own hair. A black woman proudly sporting her natural hair, or any woman strutting her gray, is more beautiful than artificially straightened or dyed hair.
27
I agree with all of Ms. Tabacco Mar's points. However, regarding adding extensions to box braids, I encourage black women to think outside of that particular box.
My view of extensions stems from my experience as a little girl who took black yarn from my mom's knitting box to devise my own hair lengthening style. I wove the black yarn into long braids and attached them to my own braids with white ribbons. My own braids fell an inch or two below my shoulders. I longed for hair that reached all the way down my back. Princess hair!
Over the past three decades, in doing research on the history, culture and social implications of black women's hair care and styling, I have been amazed at how black women have molded their naturally textured hair into imaginative sculptural forms without using added hair. I've also admired the great confidence and cachet of black women who wear very close cropped hair; the contours of their bare heads can also be viewed as a form of sculpture.
While I realize that adult black women who wear extensions are not hankering for long hair in the overtly Cinderella wannabe way that I did as a child -- extensions are an easy maintenance style -- I do encourage black women who are able to do so, to explore the great multiplicity of natural styles without automatically going to the extension default mode.
9
According to Wikipedia, "Locks have been worn for various reasons in each culture: as an expression of deep religious or spiritual convictions, ethnic pride, as a political statement and in more modern times, as a representation of a free, alternative or natural spirit."
So it is disingenuous of Ria Tabacco Mar to characterize the issue as one over "styles consistent with ... natural hair texture." Dreadlocks, in our culture, make a statement. It is not inappropriate for employers to be sensitive to and have some control over what messages are being sent out by their employees on company time.
When I was in college and looking for a summer job, you should have seen my hair. It was the expression of a free, alternative, and natural spirit. Maybe it's partly why I didn't get the job with Coopers and Lybrand.
So many comments take the form of saying what "should" or "should not" be. Maybe the world would be a better place if people's attitudes toward hair were different from what they are. But employers are not required to conform to your conception of what would be the best of all possible worlds.
12
Ms Mar,
I appreciate your essay. Hair is just one more way that people use to create a sense of a "wrong" in others. The only restriction I can see on any hairstyle is long hair not properly tied back for safety reasons around moving machinery. Otherwise...its hair...appreciate it for all its beauty and many incarnations...and..I like the feathers.
2
I'M A CHILD OF THE 60s reliving the Summer of Love's 50th anniversary. Being a white guy, the idea of black is beautiful still resonates strongly with me. But it seems I'm behind the times. I'm also very low maintenance when it comes to fashion. I find the effort others make to be fashionable interesting and at times amusing. So long as I don't have to engage in any of the fuss for myself. I've maintained most of my black hair at the age of 70, so people ask me if I dye it. They don't know me if they ask. If my hair turned green and fell out, I'd leave it be. Given the horrors we see on videos of persons of color--mostly men--unarmed, being slaughtered by police, there is no doubt that there is a lot of puntiive, even murderous stuff going on out there. So if it lightens the burden for some people to change their hair color, so be it. Or even if it just gives them pleasure. Meanwhile, all I can tell you is that I've seen so many changes I'd never dreamed would happen. Like having a Black President. Seeing more mixed couples than ever before. Having more comfort socially with people from different backgrounds. Yes, there are still lots of problems, such as the 5 letter "T" word that's just another dirty four letter word! Rhymes with lump. So enjoy the golden Anniversary of the Summer of Love and the rainbow of colors we see around ourselves. Add in a few solar panels and wind turbines to clean up the carbon and we're on our way to lots more summers of love.
3
As a curly-haired white woman I never experienced racial discrimination over my appearance (though I was often asked by strangers, “Jewish or Italian?”). However, growing up in a very conforming era of long, straight hair, I was made to feel ugly in my natural hair and ashamed to show it. Despite all my efforts I could never get or keep it looking straight, and often tied it back, wore a scarf, or cut it very short. I was afraid to use a chemical straightener because my cousins said it made their hair break off in bunches. Words cannot express how liberated I felt when permed styles came back in fashion. People who haven’t experienced the damage of chemical straightening or the social and professional stigma of forgoing it really don’t understand the burden and the racial and gender bias involved, or the effect on women's sense of attractiveness. Because of these experiences I think everyone should be free to wear their hair in whatever style suits their texture and preference. Ethnic hair can be beautiful and people should be allowed to wear it with pride.
21
The corporate standard is that all women should look like a Hitchcock heroine from the 50s. I'm not black, but I've been told over and over again that I should straighten my hair for a more "professional" look. Tried it--and still have a bald spot from the result.
14
People should be free to express themselves through various hairstyles and other means, but don't complain if others point or even laugh. Choices can have undesirable affects on others: deal with it.
6
@Glenn Thomas
I should have mentioned that I am a male with hair that extends a few inches below my shoulders and I, too, have been pointed at a been whistled at as a joke.
So what! Who cares?
I just don't understand this. All of the women pictured look clean and well put together; it's STYLE. I think styled dreads are beautiful.
Our continuing problems with people who don't look just like us is just so so sad.
8
They did it to us white people, too. Remember, no hair touching the collar? No ducktails, no sideburns? No peroxide? (You could wind up in the principal’s office if you colored your hair.) I’ve forgotten all the hair restrictions, but they were there. If you were around in the 1950s and 1960s, you’ll remember what it was like. If you were born later, check out old Perry Mason episodes; you’ll see the hair codes on full view there.
It is not progress that African-American girls and women get in trouble for the way they wear their hair. It’s backsliding, to a time when otherwise reasonable people would go ballistic at the thought of the Beatles’ haircuts. IMHO, people should wear their hair any way they like, and schools should behave in a civilized manner and not send girls home for wearing quite nice hairstyles that, for some reason, the school personnel have taken a dislike to. Hair discrimination of that kind is really unreasonable and quite unsuitable for educational institutions, which should know better.
9
All the photos with this piece show beautiful hairstyles. Especially beautiful, I'd say.
4
@Charles
I find them both creatively inspiring. If a company employed women like this, I would expect it to be a dynamic, innovative and forward-looking company.
1
I think this policy is dreadful and the Supreme Court should have heard and overturned the case involving Ms. Jones... However, How is a hairstyle involving extensions, "Natural?"
14
Just remember to set you clocks back to 1932. You can be black but remember that your hair cannot.
11
Care for some cheese to go with that WHINE? Some articles are just silly and have no real bearing on life in the USA. Black hair is not against the rules but what is against the rules is insisting that these unconventional hair styles be considered attractive by everyone. I don't fine them attractive- does that make me racist or perhaps a white supremacist. It's called personal preference people.
38
@Dixon Duval
It only "has no bearing on life in the USA" if you're not black.
Check your privilege.
8
@Dixon Duval
I must've missed the part where the writer insisted that people should find black hair attractive. Believe me, these women couldn't care less whether you find black hair attractive or not. They just want the same latitude to style their hair that white women get.
As for the cheese, no thanks; no room for it since we've had a surfeit of "white whine" for the last two years!
9
@Dixon -I will surmise from your snark that you likely have straight hair (and are not African American), and because this does not apply to you it must not be real or important or valid??. See, the point of reading ANYTHING is not to compare to one’s own life and say, “Well, this cannot be bc it does not apply to ME” ; rather, one should read to educate one’s self, to think of someone else FIRST, how they might feel. Take a walk in those shoes before shooting one’s mouth off and proving one’s ignorance.
8
It's the same treatment as people with overt tattoos, eyebrow-rings or lip rings, weird hair style etc get. I am not white, and I don't think some corporate grooming requirements are just anti-black or racist. Asians with black hair have no problem. If a company chooses to not allow certain grooming it's their prerogative.
Businesses can't afford to accommodate every person or group's preferences.
47
@Jack 1. What does my hair have to do with my qualifications to work for a given company? 2. Are you not familiar with systemic racism and bias? Where companies adopt policies that covertly discriminate against anyone they deem undesirable?
@Jack
"It's the same treatment as people with overt tattoos, eyebrow-rings or lip rings, weird hair style etc get."
Here's the difference - all of those are outside the mainstream for white culture. Dreads are mainstream for black culture. They aren't a weird hair style, just a black hair style.
2
White men can shape their facial hair into awful configurations called beards and mustaches. White women can color their hair any hue in the rainbow, braid it, put it in a ponytail (called that because it looks like the tail of a horse), or wear it loose all the way to their posterior. Both white women and men can now show up at the workplace covered in tattoos. But for black women to show a little creativity with their hair is unacceptable, unless of course they're sport stars or in the music industry. And that, of course, is racist.
18
@PR Vanneman
Not in any law firms I know about. All I can assume is you have absolutely no clue about standard law practice. Go read the comment by Robert B Brooklyn, NY 5h ago above yours. He NAILED it.
1
Ms Mar is so right! I teach at a predominantly black school (college) and I've heard all this nonsense about acceptable and unacceptable hairstyles. The grief that young women go through, trying to make their hair look straight is time consuming and ultimately damaging to their hair. Mostly, such rules are intrusive and lack any understanding of how people's hair is different. Mainly, the message is "make it look like white people's straight hair." If their hair looks like African hair, they are the "other."
I have frizzy, very curly hair and I've been "corrected" regarding my hair also. My high school advisor told me I needed to get a perm, so I'd look "proper" when representing the school, when participating in speech tournaments. Other people have some wacky idea that a comb or brush would magically straighten my hair, like theirs.
I'm shocked that we aren't past this, since I saw it before during my college years when Afros were considered daring. I guess they never really gained white acceptance, either.
19
@Betsy B
It’s worth noting that the majority of white women have to straighten their hair as well.
At least one was a religious school. I went to one of those and they wouldn't let me grow my hair past my collar. It's just the way those places are.
I have long hair and a scraggly beard, but I wouldn't expect to be taken seriously in the business world looking as I do now.
Personally I don't care how a person styles their hair, but in certain businesses and schools no one of any ethnicity can "stand out."
I know Black people are discriminated against because of hair styles in many places, but a religious school is a pretty intolerant place for anyone with any creativity or desire to express themselves.
5
I'll grant you schools. If the teachers aren't the problem, students will fill the void. There's a lot of latent racism floating around teachers and adolescents both. My school's rule book banned all dyed hair so "natural" was never in question. You were expected to be clean and well presented. No piercings. Boys had to keep their hair above their collars. Inappropriate was whatever the teacher decided or whatever the other students abused you for doing.
I wouldn't bring up the military when discussing permissiveness in the work place though. Last I checked, every soldier, sailor, and marine gets a shave. Arguing about haircuts in the military is like arguing about approved makeup colors. You have a point but it's besides the point.
That said, I don't know any workplace that doesn't require a certain appearance. I'll certainly accept racism as a factor in the origin of that expectation. However, I have natural hair and I'm not free to wear it how I want either. Any deviation from the standard businessman cut will get you dismissed from the interview before the job offer. You won't even have time to get offended by an inappropriate comment. Do you think men in suits feel comfortable in a tie everyday? We are not at liberty either.
9
Great article. Keep it coming so white people will finally get it.
I have a friend whose hair is white and frizzy and it is a large head of hair. Wonder if she was ever told to change her hair when she worked. BTW I am caucasian.
3
these hairstyles are gorgeous artistic displays. RIGHT ON, from an old grey haired white lady.
5
I don't deny that racism is real and this is happening. Still, I will say that I would not be able to go to work with my natural hair either, even though it is not "black" hair. If I didn't spend a fortune on it, and carefully manage the texture, my hair would be thick and frizzy. Even if i tie it back, it looks "messy." It wouldn't look "professional."
I do understand that this is not the same as passing rules against specific hairstyles. I'm not being specifically targeted for my ethnicity, though this is the net result. My hair is a product of my Middle Eastern heritage.
As much as possible, we should mind our own business and trust people to decide what's best for their own hair.
16
Yes, it is true that hairstyles involve some degree of personal choice. Sort of like tattoos, clothing, jewelry and hygiene, we do have many choices. Whether the woman in the photo, (with the feathers), would be given the professional job over someone who did not style their hair as such would be more unlikely. Unless you're an artist, music or sports star or just plain rich, in order to work at some positions it requires one's hair to be within acceptable limitations. There are certain amounts of conformity in life, sorry.
241
@JM and who makes those rules and standards?? nuf said...peace and coexist...rk
6
@JM Your example of the woman in that photo is extreme and not really what this article is about - and probably using that photo to illustrate this article was not the wisest choice. Natural hair for people with ancestors from Africa (and a few other places) should not be discriminated against because people of European descent find it strange, unusual, unattractive or "unnatural." It's just that simple. The courts got is very wrong in the case cited.
148
@JM - your comment misses the point. Black girls and women are criticized for styles that are clean, neat and not extreme, but that display what their natural hair looks like. (I'm not talking about the woman with feathers in the photo. I think that was a poor choice for this article - to clarify the point it would have been better to show more subdued black hairstyles.) As the author says, hairstyles that are accepted by the Army and Marines can hardly be called unprofessional. In the Massachusetts school case she cites, white girls weren't sanctioned for colored streaks in their hair, but black girls were sent home for wearing extensions. The decision as to what are "acceptable limitations" is being contaminated by the (often, I think, unconscious) racial bias of the people setting the rules. They are used to seeing white hairstyles and that is what sets their idea of "professional".
276
We are discriminated against in many ways, some obvious, most subtle. That discrimination is amplified when we choose styles that strongly identify us as black.
But we're not the only ones. Other people of color are also discriminated against--particularly when they adopt culture specific appearance and behavior. The same is true for sexual and religious minorities. It's even true for people with regional accents.
Despite the fact that evidence indicates that diversity makes organizations more effective, organizations 'want' people to conform. Those who conform are nurtured, rewarded and promoted. Appearance is a component of conformity--conformity in appearance drives conformity in behavior.
Those of us that are naturally different are at an obvious disadvantage. This disadvantage is particularly damaging to African Americans because of our history of oppression in this country. It is difficult to pull yourself up when the dominant population has learned to see you as being lesser.
96
@Justin And in fact INSISTS upon seeing us as lesser.
@Justin Oh please, how difficult is it to get a haircut.
Black hair police. Can you imagine telling white women that they cannot wear their hair in braids or that they have to color/process it? Because that is what the author is talking about. A sister's hair is not your business, especially if she is taking care of her business and yours.
284
Moderation and respect for the job is key. If you look at the pictures of the Afropunk Festival participants attached to this article, you would probably agree that it is not appropriate for most professions. Depending on the job, I can understand why employers would object if the style detracts from the job. I say this out of respect for others and not trying to be judgmental.
9
@H. G.
Actually yes, I can more than imagine white women being "policed". I would never tell any person to change their hair but I am not black and have been told to change mine. Specifically braids: anything more than 1 (talking 2) gets raised eyebrows and I was simultaneously sexually harassed and ordered to change my braids in a law office (thought to be very progressive). White women and women of all colors are policed from head to toe in many settings.
8
@H. G.
Um....schools and jobs DO have dress codes and hair codes. Always have had.
My white grandson was sent home from school for not having his hair worn as per the (written) code....just sayin'.
6
I love the paragraph about the army, sure an army with fat people can allowed long hair, but both of them, fat and long hair soldierare not fit to fight.
1
@pierre it only applies to women in the Army. Men still have to wear it high and tight. Sexism!
2
Well good grief, the answer to the questions is absurdly obvious. The people who make and enforce the rules are basically racist. End of story.
5
At least things have gotten better. In 2008, my kids asked me why Michelle Obama straightened her hair. They thought it was odd, especially because the only women they knew who straightened their hair were old.
28
@Cousy - Actually, I believe the focus on uniforms in predominantly Black schools comes from the Black community itself more than white people trying to force Black students to wear uniforms. Just like you said: "The West Indians I know in the US still love uniforms..."
Uniforms are very different from hair, by the way, in that all races can be subjected to the same clothing restrictions (or not), but restricting natural hair for Black people is about white people denying Black people the right to live in their own natural bodies. And why do you wish the West Indians in the US didn't straighten their hair? Don't they have the right to straighten, not straighten, wear locs, wear braids, do anything they want with their hair without your judgement? White women, too, get perms, cuts, highlights, braids, etc... all without being morally judged. Natural hair or not natural hair - just let Black women be!
Great article and shameful Appeals Court decision.
@Cousy
Michelle Obama comes from a time when people with curly hair straightened it. Black women, of course. But also white girls who wanted long straight hair to look "mod." You know, like Twiggy and other models.
My (white) cousin used to iron her hair. Sometimes she got her father, who adored her, to iron it for her. Much easier, and less likely to burn.
Once she tried to bleach her hair blond. It came out orange. Not a success.
She couldn't lengthen her legs, though. Some things we just can't change.
1
@Cousy Why is ageism so much more acceptable than racism?
Is shaving the hair off your face considered "natural"? Or shaving your head?
Asking for a friend.
160
@Jim K.: Good one.
1
@Jim K. That's actually a good question. One could argue that shaving (either one's beard, or their hair) is far LESS natural than some of the things described in this article.
2
@Jim K. Tell your friend that perhaps it's not natural, however, one may wear a beard and/or mustache, too, if one desires.
As for shaving a head, aren't people allowed to shave their heads or not, whichever they prefer?
I guess I don't understand your friend's point.
Let's not forget when the Obama daughters were younger and wore their hair in twists, they were deemed "disrespectful" by the those folks who couldn't stand to see that our "First Daughters" identified with their Black culture in any way.
ALSO Robert, Why are you assuming that naturally styled hair is not groomed or unhygienic?
43
It is unsurprising that the Catholic Church hierarchy has found a new way to torment children. These actions by Catholic schools in New Orleans and elsewhere are, in their horrendous racism, another form of child abuse. I hope that the suffering families get big paydays in court, but beyond that we all--black, brown, Asian, white--need to fight against these revolting racist policies.
3
What an awful experience to have to go through. Makes me sick to read.
Controlling Black people's hair is proxy today for controlling their bodies, like we did back in slave times.
175
@e w at the end of the day, this is 100% the issue here, and consciously or subconsciously, the NYT is complicit for pairing this essay with photos of high fashion, intentionally exaggerated photos of black women's hair. The photos are a 'wink' to racist that the NYT knows better than the argument presented here.
How about some very normal, day-in/day-out hair styles instead of feeding a hateful stereotype at the expense of the well-reasoned and accurate author?
3
@e w ---very insightful comment
That said, this topic needs more nuance. Appearance codes imposed by government (including public schools) are subject to 14th Amendment equal protection requirements. Private schools and employers have greater power, e.g., the NY Yankees ban on facial hair.
@e w
Yeah, you might be reading a bit too much into this, stop being afraid of everything and you may see things differently.
Silvery has been over and dead here in the US for a long Long time.
Some of these braids and locs are beautiful. I think if people stopped for a moment and really paid attention, they'd rethink making stupid policies.
2
The policing of Black bodies is a very lucrative American Industry.
19
This has been a topic of discussion, protest and the impetus for transformation in South African schools. A few brave black girls protested policies at Pretoria Girls a couple of years ago and set in motion essential self reflection and policy changes in former white (Model C) schools. Belonging and inclusion are essential for democracy to work. While South African schools have a way to go, the steps many have taken to recognize that these policies are legacies of apartheid and white supremacy are commendable and something we could learn from in the US.
8
Elder White Grandfather -- I think most are jealous of the ability to create art, naturally, on your head. The art and beauty are amazing. Expand this singular art. Please. Most everybody else has to wait for the Kentucky Derby, then fake it.
3
I'm not of African descent, but I do have curly hair and have been told on multiple occasions that's it not professional to wear it down or that it would look so much prettier if I straightened it. This isn't just a problem for African-Americans, but for anyone with "ethnic" hair.
66
@M Ugh. Good job making this all about you. Curly hair isn't "ethnic" hair.
7
@JM Actually, you are incorrect (and I'm guessing do not have curly hair). Curls, waves and any sort of texture have been historically viewed as "ethnic", which is a thinly veiled dogwhistle to refer to any diverse population perceived to be non-white in origin. Anyone with less than straight hair who has been told that their hair is "messy", "sloppy", "ungroomed" or "suitable for the bedroom" simply for being maintained in its natural state can attest to how broadly these stereotypes reach.
9
@J M The "ethnic" was meant to be ironic.
My gorgeous granddaughter is bi- racial. I have encouraged her to wear her hair as natural as possible. To not straighten her hair in ways that damage her hair. She has finally embraced her beautiful hair and I am very proud of her.
43
As a functioning adult it is YOUR job to research and assess what might and might not be acceptable to an employer. Common sense, maybe?
21
@Ashwin Krishnan It's not common sense for employers to be allowed to tell you they "don't prefer" the type of hair that is naturally occurring in millions and millions of people. You're basically saying all black people should have to change their natural hair or it's their own fault they're being discriminated against.
1
Is this seriously still a thing? When I was in graduate school in the early 2000's, we had this exact discussion in one of my "multicultural education" classes (I have a Master's in Education, Teaching English as a Second Language). It was a boring discussion then and it's a boring discussion now.
Extensions, dreadlocks, and braids are not "natural hair." They are hairstyles and affectations. No one discriminates against black people with "naturals," a.k.a. what we used to call "Afros."
The styles described in this article are no different than white people who dye their hair pink and green or cut into a Mohawk. Neither of these is appropriate in most offices, either.
The idea that only black people are discriminated against for their hairstyles is ridiculous. People with strange or outlandish hairstyles are discriminated against, regardless of their ethnicity.
Companies are free to decide what they consider appropriate workplace attire and grooming. If you don't like it, don't work for that company.
It's not up to the company to condone or conform to your style. They're signing the checks, so you have to conform to the company's standards, not the other way around.
167
@Elfego It is apparent to me that you don't know what racism is.
"People with strange or outlandish hairstyles are discriminated against, regardless of their ethnicity." What does that mean? Are you saying that dreadlocks and braids with extensions are strange or outlandish? If so, BY WHOSE STANDARDS?
Said in the spirit of learning and growing from one educator to another.
2
You so do not KNOW of what you've commented in the NYT! Shhh, please!
@Kate Lerner See, that's the boring part of this discussion, i.e. "...BY WHOSE STANDARDS?"
By the standards of the people writing the checks. I thought I answered that in my original comment?
So long as everybody is held to the same standard, it's not discrimination. If a white person with dreadlocks is acceptable, but a black person with the same hairstyle is not, then that's racist.
But, having a company policy that dreadlocks are not considered professional grooming is not, in and of itself, racist.
There are nuances here, but the most important part is not hard to understand: The person signing the check makes the rules and, so long as their applied equally, that's fair.
1
I don't understand. The article asserts without proof that employers require Black people to do intrusive things to their hair other than wash and cut it in accordance with its natural properties and company policy, in that order.
Dreadlocks are not 'natural'; no one's hair comes out of their head that way. Company policy might prohibit a European-descended person from wearing, say, a pompadour or a mohawk; why is prohibiting dreadlocks any different?
The answer that somehow dreadlocks are inherent in Black identity is too expansive. An employer might not want a Black employee to wear a very large Afro, nor a Dashiki, nor a Christian white employee to wear shoulder-length hair and a beard reminiscent of Jesus, for many reasons, including that these grooming styles are too conspicuous and too communicative, thus distracting from the employer's business.
Employers don't want employees so invested in displaying their beliefs through fashion that customers will be distracted, at best, or intimidated, at worst, hurting the employers' business. If a customer is put off by an employee's race or other inviolable attribute, so be it. That's both the law, and no less than morality demands. But neither the law nor morality prevents a business from telling employees to keep their hair clean, short and conservatively groomed. Nor does the asserted etymology of dreadlocks have any bearing.
I'm sorry, but this article's argument is unpersuasive on both logic and facts.
180
I found it incredibly persuasive.
1
@NLG Black peoples' hair requires far more maintenance than other peoples' in order to produce the same styles. You are effectively giving them a "hair tax" -- a basic requirement that they must spend far more effort than everyone else to get their hair to what you feel is acceptable. Dreadlocks are designed as a controlled form of tangling for hair that is naturally very prone to tangling anyway, and is a very effective way to control it without hours and hours of upkeep, chemical straightening procedures, etc. The only reason you don't find it acceptable is your inherent ignorance about these people and why it's unfair to them.
43
@NLG, don't forget that the Jesus with long hair was blond and blue-eyed.
2
The problem with everyone's hair nowadays is that the styles are tasteless, offensive, atrocious, without any esthetic appeal whatsoever. It proves that you cannot make up anything beautiful out of complete ignorance. Shaving part of your head is creepy. It stems from the Janes who wanted to look like abuse victims, and it has sadly spread too far. Contrasting shaved hair with long hair looks bad. Everything looks bad. Attaching yarn to your hair is weird. Attaching other people's hair to yours is weird. Well-cut natural haircuts are best, other than more elaborate but artful styles of the past. No, you don't need tons of product. And heavy weights added to your head have to be bad for your neck and your posture.
8
@Grittenhouse
Well, that was a mouthful.
I tend to agree that today's various fashions on the whole look slovenly, perhaps even grimy. And I do apply that to everyone.
I've never understood why some men, for example, go bare-chested in the metropolis. That's for the beach. Nor do I understand why young men (of all colors, increasingly) are wearing their trousers slung below their buttocks. Waddling is neither attractive nor safe.
As for women of all ages and sizes, there really are places where short-shorts and tops that stop way above the belly button are appropriate and places where they're really not.
Perhaps that's why so many Americans, well dressed or not, from all social strata, evidently, like to watch and to read about the English "Royals." Say what you will about them, they dress according to the occasion.
@Grittenhouse
"Everything looks bad." Shesh. You sound like my grandmother. And I'm old. Calm down, get a life and stop being so judgey. You will have a longer, happier life.
1
"When it comes to hair, only black people and multiracial people of African descent are punished when they choose to wear styles consistent with their natural hair texture."
Possibly, even likely, true. But it goes beyond texture. I am a man with long hair and a neatly trimmed beard. That has cost me more than one job. I could have gotten a haircut and looked like the other corporate drones.
I did not. I will not. If you are going to judge me on hair and not what I can do for your company it is not a place I want to work anyway.
9
@Concernicus -- It was gettin' kinda long; you could have said it was in your way. But you didn't, and I know why: you felt like letting your freak flag fly!
1
@Concernicus, you're correct, however, you're glossing over the most important part of the statement; "styles consistent with their natural hair texture".
Your natural hair texture is the norm. Black (and other) folks with coarse, coiled hair is not. Yes, there may be some corporate environments that don't allow long hair, however, they're few and far between. I know, I worked in corporate America for many years.
I appreciate your commitment to self and non-conformity. However, Black people don't have that same luxury; we can't just go from one company to the next with our natural curls and just get a job. You would be surprised how many people, especially Black women, are told that they must either heat or chemically process their hair.
Not demeaning you or your experience in any way, I'm just telling you that my experience is very different.
Superficiality applies to things that are part of the body, too? When will people stop wanting to be treated like they are individuals? This is pure madness!
One might even be forced to conclude that white supremacy was factored into the founding of a number of societal institutions. This conclusion is true, of course. But when has knowing history ever done any good?
1
RE: the photograph of the bird feathers in the hair.
Dangerous.
The use of bird feathers is very dangerous.
All birds, all birds, all birds, carry Chlamydia. The carcasses of birds carry the pathogenic Chlamydia: they are teaming with the active pathogen.
Avian Chlamydia can enter the body from having touched the feathers, and then touching the eyes and mouth. A systemic Chlamydia infection is especially difficult to treat.
11
I totally agree - it is sad and frustrating that black people and often black girls in particular are stigmatized and shamed for wearing the most natural hairstyles for black people. Braids, corn rolls, and dreads are the black equivalent of the "messy hair bun" that white women love to celebrate as an easy and fun hair style - but when we style our kids' hair in an easy way - it is suddenly militant and wrong.
That being said the photos featuring what are in fact kind of crazy hairstyles from the afro punk festival really don't help make the point. I mean if someone showed up in pink hair - whether braided or not, or their head half shaved people might rightfully call that unprofessional for certain jobs. lol
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@VJO
For Rastas, dreads are not a messy bun, they are a sign of religious devotion. The longer the dreads, the longer the devotion.
@VJO
As a white woman. I love the messy hair bun. But I would not wear it to a job interview, nor would I expect to keep a front-desk job if I wore it. A professional-looking hairstyle requires more effort from me (blow-drying, flat iron, etc).
Let's accept that for the average white school master, boss or what have you - if he is white, he understands nothing at all about dreadlocks. nor does he understand Sikh headgear, or much outside of his world. He (we) live in a white world and need to learn about what we don't know. And trust me, we don't know what it takes to straighten hair either. For me, as with my father, I shower and comb. My hair dries while I go to work.
3
I was under the impression that most black american women are displaying hair weaves....not actually their own hair....its all hair from India woven into designs that are then attached to the real hair of the women. The afro look was actually attractive, why'd that one drop in popularity?
15
@Wherever Hugo
India, where the people doing the weaving are probably working for slave wages? Interesting.
2
I have had to shave my beard for jobs before. What's the difference?
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@Timothy Wingfield It doesn't take you hours and cost you money in order to maintain a shaved beard. Someone of african-american descent has to spend many more HOURS compared to someone else to achieve the same hairstyles.
2
@Timothy Wingfield For similar reasons that shouldn't be required as well.
@Timothy Wingfield: Is that a sincere question?
1
I couldn't agree more with you. We are way behind the times on the acceptance of black hairstyles.
4
I'm a land surveyor but got a degree in landscape architecture. Guess what? Rule one in any design is that you work with the material you have. A plant design for conifer trees is no good if you use deciduous trees. And a house designed for masonry won't work with wood frame. The same is also for human hair, We all know that African hair is wooly, and black hair stylists have come up with some impressive ways of working with it. So I can appreciate some black woman with braids and cornrows.
BTW white girls don't look that good in dreadlocks. (hee, hee)
7
I think that this very important story was not helped in any way by the images that were chosen. The first includes a woman with most of her head shaved and the two images below are of women who are wearing clothing that is clearly not office wear for anyone regardless of race or ethnicity. Why include those images when talking about a real topic in the work place.
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@Carrie Zaslow
Apparently because this race lawyer believes "Afropunk" haircuts are acceptable in a professional environment.
2
@Carrie Zaslow I agree. I am giving the Times the side eye for including the photographs of women attending an art/music festival because they detract from the workplace/school issues raised in the article. Intentional? I don't know but in any event it was a poor decision.
6
Racism is deeply embedded in every social institution, especially education--I wonder how many white girls who get their hair permed get treated similarly, or even the teachers themselves. I'm sure not even one, because "natural" is defined/interpreted from a dominant white cultural norm.
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@MyOwnWoman: "Racism is deeply embedded in every social institution, especially education...."
And this attitude, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect illustration of *everything* that's wrong with our country today.
Until we get past this idea, which is divisive by its very definition, we will never be able to heal this country.
6
@Elfego We can't get past this idea until we accept that it is true.
16
Honesty, unless you are in the military or a deep sea diver, what does it matter how you wear your hair?
7
Black people are definitely subject to more criticism, unwelcome comments and outright discrimination based on appearance, including hair.
It isn't, however, entirely true that "only black people are punished when they choose to wear hairstyles consistent with their natural hair texture." In businesses especially, there are - or have been - really rigid ideas about what professional is supposed to look like. It's fine to have long straight hair - if it is styled like a anchor on CNBC or FOX cable; not ok if it is say, waist length or in braids. Not OK if it is kinky white hair, either. There's also way too much prejudice against women to let their hair grow gray "naturally" - even if gray hair was a fad for younger folks. Too much also rests - for women and men, too, on appearance - by which I mean attractiveness and youthfulness, not appropriate dress.
What IS true is that styles that work best for black hair almost always come under fire, or some sort of suspicion.
What an incredible waste of human ability, to set up these obstacles to keep people out: it is always about those in charge of hiring, being blind to ability and fearful of change.
14
It is envy. 'Black' hair styles are cool - open any magazine on style, music, art, and popular culture in general and you will find them. Most 'white ' hair can't do twists and dreadlocks - it is often too fine and breaks too easily. Any hair style that does not interfere with safety or hygiene should be allowed in our schools and work places.
7
"It’s true that hairstyles involve some degree of personal choice, but that doesn’t give employers free rein to discriminate against workers who wear dreadlocks,..."
Sure it does. The etymology of the term "dreadlocks" is irrelevant. Employers have the right to demand a certain dress code, a certain "look" on the job (up to a given point, of course).
We live in the world. All of us present ourselves to others in a wider social context. Neither dreadlocks or purple mohawks, are "bad," but they do not necessarily yell "professional," either. Maybe some day they will, but we're not there yet.
My wife, who was a human resources professional for 30 years and is black, always kept her hair "natural," i.e., its natural texture, but kept it short. She never dyed it in wild colors, or wild designs, or put it in dreads. Why? Because she knew, right or wrong, that styles signal something to the person in front of her, and she wanted to signal "professional" - for her own purposes as much as her employers'.
98
All one has to do is look at all of the television commercials that feature mixed race women and girls with nearly straight hair or very loose curls. It is truly sad that a group of people cannot accept another groups’ natural appearance.
13
@Anthony Cheeseboro
Does it have to do with acceptance? Or is it that in some societies a certain "look" is considered more desirable/attractive? Are all the ladies who undergo breast augmentation surgery not accepted? Or is it that this society considers large breasted women sexier?
There's a reason why there are no nerve endings in hair - so it can all easily be cut off. So naturally we prefer the torturous route by keeping it and then disagreeing over how to keep it. Watching someone constantly throwing their hair out of their face all day drives me crazy as I'm sure it does them, but all the more reason to keep it that way then.
1
@John Doe, I'd bet you 10 to 1 that it doesn't bother them. Your feelings are not theirs.
3
my "natural hairstyle" includes a full rasputin like beard with body hair to match. And yet society declares the former to be unacceptable in most professional workplaces and the latter to be "gross" and regularly the subject of jokes and ridicule despite being as natural and as immutable as skin color. Where are the navel gazing victimhood claiming articles in the nyt for people like me?
112
@James nice whataboutism you've got going on there.
Yes, you should be able to keep your beard as well. But we are discussing racism in this article.
8
@James Seriously? Were the people of your ancestral lineage subjected to forced labor, institutionalized and legalized racism, societal segregation, and subjected to hundreds of years of discriminatory education and employment practices? If so, then yes, indeed without a doubt. The NYT should produce more "victimhood claiming articles" addressing the plight of people with "full Rasputin like beards with body hair to match".
3
@Ken
My people were emancipated from essential slavery in 1861 by alexander ii's decree. Then, in the mid 1930s, about 6 million were murdered in stalin's artificial famine. People with last names of my general pattern were cast as the bad guys in movies for generations and because many of us chose to keep our surnames rather than americanize them when our grandparents and grrat grandparemts came to this country fleeing nazi and soviet terror, we comtimue to be looked at as not full americans.
What on earth does this have to do with harstyle other than providing more proof that there are no depths that people like you wont stoop to to play identy politics victimhood one upmanship based on comic book "identity" narratives?
3
As for hair, I think any hairstyle is fine and often beautiful, as long as it it clean and does not interfere with schoolwork. All the long, flowing hair of girls and boys is often a distraction in that it gets in the eyes, is "played with", especially by girls, is hot, and is a safety issue in science classes and on the playing field. Of course, I went to school with braids every day until middle school, so I am biased!
8
Why is black hair against the rules? It's simple. White people make the rules.
192
@Bruce Northwood - White men makes the rules. FTFY
4
Personally, I think people should wear their hair as they wish. I also think employers should be able to choose people who groom to fit the image the company wants to project. That’s pretty much how the world works. I would rather have dressed in jeans and sweatshirts when I was with what was then Price Waterhouse, but I figured it might just hurt my chances of promotion.
147
@TW Smith this sidesteps the topic of racial bias in standards. What if the rule was no long hair for anyone? That would be discriminatory against women. Saying, well the women could cut their hair, doesn't eliminate the fact of gender discrimination. This is the same case but it's racial bias... and probably with a large helping of ignorance as well.
4
@TW Smith Yeah, but you can't dreadlock and undreadlock at will, the same way you can take off your tie in ten seconds when you leave the office.
5
@TW Smith When the look the "company wants to project" is inherently white, that is systematic discrimination on the basis of race. We also no longer allow restaurants to refuse to serve black people.... There is no comparison between discriminating against someone because of a characteristic of a group to which they belong, like people of African descent having thick, curly hair, and your choice to dress in jeans.
6
I did not realize that dreadlocks were part of a person's natural hair texture. I was under the impression that it took years to actually create that look.
104
@Deb I believe the writer is saying that "dreadlocks" or "locs" are hairstyles that are consistent with the texture of black hair. And they are.
17
@Deb It takes white people years of not washing their hair, but blacks or others with textured hair don't have the problem. Their hairs goes into dreadlocks fast. My niece use to have dreadlocks after a few days at the beach.
PS. She looked cute.
6
Yes Deb, it takes years. When you’re white.
6
I always liked to look different as a kid and even now that I'm considered a senior citizen. In this world where everyone wants their yards to look alike, and their walls to be painted beige, and their school and office attire to look exactly the same as the others, I say more power to the people who like some color and some difference in their lives.
45
@Linda
Fine, but you may not be hired for certain positions. this is not an article about people who were not allowed to dress or style their hair as they wished, but about people who might have to make some compromises to get the jobs they wanted.
2
@White Buffalo Seniors are never hired for anything, but liberals don't consider that a problem.
Agreed with the author and I love the photos!
But the school thing is complicated. The restrictions on natural hair come from the same distasteful tradition (at charters and parochials) as uniforms. Why do white people love to see Black kids in uniforms, and why do Black people put up with it?
In Barbados, where my spouse is from, all kids wear school uniforms and have "good hair". The West Indians I know in the US still love uniforms and straighten their hair. I wish they didn't.
9
@Cousy
As far as uniforms on kids go: I like to see uniforms on all kids regardless of race or socioeconomic situation. The uniforms eliminate all the hoopla about who has more clothes and whose clothes are nicer. My granddaughter's public charter school went a middle route to avoid the cost of uniforms: blue sweaters and grey slacks or skirts--all of which they could find at Walmart or Target. Same for boys --but no skirts!
51
@Cousy uniforms have nothing at all to do with white or black. I wore a uniform in grade school. (Catholic school).
11
Why can the boys wear skirts if they want to?
2
"When it comes to hair, only black people and multiracial people of African descent are punished when they choose to wear styles consistent with their natural hair texture." What about all the males who were not allowed to wear their hair long in the 60s and later? Wasn't long hair "consistent with their natural hair texture?"
"It’s unthinkable that a court would uphold a policy that effectively required white workers to alter their hair texture through costly, time-consuming procedures involving harsh chemicals. Yet that’s exactly what the appeals court apparently expected Ms. Jones to do to keep her job." I really doubt that hair straightening was mentioned in the decision.
While I agree with the author that the cases sited seem to represent unequal treatment, I feel that the way she presented her case was basically "ventilating" and congratulating herself for her professional appearance. This approach would not have won a court case.
53
@SG Whatta shame. I've had a lot of training in design, and Rule One is Work with the material you have, dummy!
Black women have wooly hair, and a lot of Afro hairstylists work differently with it, and I think they've come up with beautiful hairdos.
I guess you have to admire the beauty, even though it doesnt follow "the rules"
6
@SG and others who are suggesting that not permitting dreadlocks is fine, because it's not about the texture of the hair, I think you're lacking some key understanding of what it takes to care for black and mixed hair.
I have straight shoulder length blond hair. I take 2 minutes to brush it in the morning. If I put it up, that might be another 3-5 minutes at most. I don't brush at night. I suspect I'm pretty typical in terms of a white women's hair.
My mixed daughter's shoulder length hair takes 20 minutes at night (brush and put into a bun, then put in the silk cap) and another 10-15 in the morning (finger pick, product, and style the curls). This is not to make it look fancy - just to look tidy for school. OR, we can spend 2 hours on the weekend putting in braids, which requires patience, time, and skill.
Dreadlocks are a logical alternative to all this work. While they do require some steady maintenance, they are easier than braiding your own hair, not as expensive as getting your hair braided professionally, require far fewer products than managing curls daily, and are easily introduced to black hair (it is only with white hair that it requires a lot of over the top work to make them stick).
So, when an employer or court says no dreadlocks (or other easily managed black hairstyles), they are telling the black person to invest more time, money, and skill into their hair maintenance than the same employer would require a white person to do.
126
@J. Lynn
I said this a bit earlier... I imagine it's like saying "no ponytails allowed" for white women. You're removing one of the easiest and most effortless ways to get oneself out of the house.
Most days I have manageable wavy hair, but I've seen the work that black roommates and friends have put into their tresses. My sister too (who has type 3a curls).
1
re: black hairstyles. I was just in South Africa where I saw all kinds of creative and wonderful natural hairstyles, including braids.
18
@Robert Anderson: corn rowing is a natural black hairstyle, but it is "close to the head" -- not miles of long, long multi-colored braids or piled on the head like a beehive.
NOBODY could ever achieve that with just their natural hair.
What ever happened to Afros?
The term "dreadlocks" derives from Rastafarian exegesis of Numbers 6:5: "All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head." The "dread" refers to the fear of God.
54
I am so saddened by this. The work and cultural/familial sense that goes into the braids/locs/twists are a thing we should celebrate rather than turn away. While I can (sort of) understand a school's desire to limit hairstyles like mohawks which solely make a social statement and typically a rebellious social statement, there is no need to limit the hair choices of a race to very short or expensive/chemically dependent hair which is really the 2 major alternatives to these styles. It would be like if a school required all white students to have professionally dyed hair (with no roots showing) or a shaved head. That makes no sense. I also believe it should not matter whether religious, private, or public school as limiting hair only in private schools would just add further to the segregation that exists in those schools.
42
@Erin B interesting that the mohawk haircut just sprang up out of the ether with no cultural or familial sense...
1
Thank you for this! Our society punishes black people in obvious ways (criminal justice system issues) and in more subtle, insidious means like both the formal and informal rules about what constitutes "professional" or exudes "executive presence."
The presumption that black people are "other" is woven through so much of our culture that it is shocking to me when black children successfully navigate the educational system and are able to attain a foothold in the professional world. Because I presume that candidates who are people of color have faced challenges not fully known or understood by me (a white male), I give added value to their experience in the interview process. I make the logical assumption that a person across the interview table who is black or identifies as a gender other than male is smarter and more persistent than her white peers and should be given a tie-breaker point if candidates are otherwise similar.
I would love to inhabit a world in which I didn't believe that it was so hard to be black or a woman and I'm happy to work toward it, but progress seems halting at best when children are turned away from school for braids.
115
The smallness and pettiness of heart and mind in so many areas of white American power arenas, such as employment, leave me breathless with shame as a white woman. I see myriad young black women with fascinating and inventive hairstyles, on the street or on cable TV, as news contributors, with laudatory careers, and I say to myself: "Good for you; you look great!" What I believe it takes to have an open and accepting attitude about difference in the appearance of others among us is curiosity about who the other is, not a knee-jerk reaction that any differentiation from the expected norm is not acceptable. But I do draw the line when talking about normative behavior, individual or presidential.
35
@Lorel
Get away from the superficial. Invest money in most any stock, bond, CD, or other type of investment rather than waste it on hair.
I look at tattoos and hair as being a sign of severe boredom and lack of creativity.
People have little patience to create, instead they adorn themselves, rather poorly in my opinion.
7
@RR, maybe your way of looking is mistaken.
11
@RR a person can invest AND express their creativity through hair in an affordable manner, though it might be time consuming.
1
I think it would add some depth to the article to include the information that the first 2 examples were religious schools. The third example points out it was a charter school. Are there examples of this happening in public schools?
68
@Matthew Why would that make a difference? Is there some religion where black peoples' natural hair is not okay but white people's natural hair is? I'm not familiar with it. Charter schools are publicly funded. However, it's hard to see why that makes a difference—are you suggesting that private schools can outlaw black peoples' hair styles? On what basis?
33
@Matthew, charter schools are public schools.
6
@Ed: Nope not suggesting that at all. Nor did I say it.
ew: did I say charter schools were not publicly-funded? Nope.
3