For Crazy Hair Day in elementary school, my white mother would send me to school with my natural hair, and my peers mocked my “frizzy” and “nappy” hair. It made me hate my curls — an experience that isn’t unique to me alone. Other Black women have faced the same hair discrimination, and it’s time we stop encouraging them to change to fit Eurocentric beauty standards.
Black children are taught to dislike their natural hair by the way institutions are structured against them. Take, for example, the education system. At a Roman Catholic school in Louisiana, an 11-year-old girl was sent home for wearing braided hair extensions, apparently breaking dress code. Similarly, a New Jersey high school wrestler was forced by a referee to cut his dreadlocks or forfeit his match.
As per data collected in Baltimore, Black girls are four times more likely than white girls to receive disciplinary infractions such as suspension specifically for things like dress code violations. Simply put, our systems are structured to discriminate against non-European hair.
We’re also taught internalized biases against our Black hair by the media. While she isn’t Black, the main character, Mia, in the film “The Princess Diaries” is made fun of for having curly hair that the other characters call a “frizzball” and ugly. Only after a makeover in which her hair is straightened is Mia able to become a princess and be deemed pretty.
While it’s improving, the overall lack of celebrity role models in advertisements and media with kinky, coily hair perpetuates the idea that Black hair isn’t synonymous with beauty. Fortunately, there’s a growing number of Black public figures such as Lizzo who are normalizing the natural hair movement, but it’s not enough.
Small steps like this don’t change things like how Michelle Obama refrained from wearing her natural hair when she was the First Lady; she instead endured time-consuming and damaging relaxing treatments. She said the American people were adjusting to having their first Black family in the White House and weren’t ready for her natural locks. Obama wanted to prevent herself from being cast as the other even more intensely than she and her family already were.
Hair discrimination penetrates all aspects of our society, from the White House to the workplace. Black women are 1.5 times more likely than white women to be sent home from work because of their hair. Black hair is seen as unprofessional, and this view causes anxiety within the community.
When I think about interviewing for a job in the upcoming years, I’m worried that I won’t be offered a position because I don’t look professional enough with my curly hair. It’s no secret that job opportunities are limited for Black women who display their natural hair.
Thankfully, some changes are being made. In the past three years, 18 states have passed versions of the CROWN Act, a law barring hair discrimination in the workplace. Additionally, the U.S. Army recently lifted its ban on dreadlocks. Still, we’re a while away from natural Black hair being fully accepted.
When Black women are comfortable enough to embrace their natural hair, we often are met with microaggressions and strange comments like “Can I touch your hair?” or “Is it real?” While those questions seem harmless, they’re actually extremely offensive. I remember being petted like a zoo animal by my classmates in grade school.
This wasn’t the only thing that made me feel outcast. I often felt like experiences were stolen from me because of my hair. For example, since I always straightened my hair — which I only did because I felt my curls were ugly — I couldn’t swim and was constantly worried when it rained or was humid outside. Other times, I’d miss hanging out with my friends because I’d have to spend hours at a hair salon getting a blowout.
Years of straightening my hair left me with intense damage to my curl pattern. I haven’t straightened my hair in over a year and have just recently started embracing my natural curls. I’ve cut off chunks of damaged hair, but it’s going to take much longer before my hair looks like it did before I started changing it to fit white beauty standards.
For me, the fact that I’m beginning to embrace my curls is a promising sign that we’re making progress in changing our biases against Black hair. However, the momentum can’t stop, and it needs to occur on a larger scale than everyday interactions. While the CROWN Act hasn’t been formally enacted in North Carolina, NC State should take initiative and pass a version of the law at the university level.
NC State already has guidelines barring various types of discrimination, but hair isn’t directly addressed. It certainly should be, considering the prominence of hair biases against the Black community. Black hair is beautiful just the way it is. It’s time we treat it as such.
