| Is there a such thing as straight hair discrimination? |
So it's no surprise that hair is often the topic of discussion with a friend (she's Jewish and loves natural hair).
Her question: Can having straight hair block your advancement at work if you work around nothing but naturals? She told the story about someone who thought that maybe her advancement was hindered because many of her co-workers/superiors had locks, natural hair.
Now, this question is definitely a bit of a twist. Usually, the question is always the reverse -- will having NATURAL hair affect your progress at work? I told her that it's just as bad as someone discriminating against a person with natural hair.
The Politics of Black Hair
My friend didn't quite understand. So of course I tried to explain -- in a 5-10 minute work convo, of course -- about Black hair, how going natural can be a very defining moment, how we are our worst critics when it comes to our hair because we collectively worry it will hamper our ability to get a man, a job or both, how we have texture and length are equated to "good" hair, blah, blah, blah.
Detailed convo, which I couldn't even fully explain in a condensed version. Why we feel about our hair can't be condensed in a short convo. That ish takes YEARS to explain! Let's not even get into all that drama over heat training, whether flat ironed naturals are really "naturals," and having bosses who are hell bent on defining what natural means to "them." I would have REALLY confused her.
She couldn't understand why, in her mind, natural hair was so beautiful, that folks would put other folks' hair (weave) onto their heads. She called it "creepy." She's seen the Good Hair documentary, by the way. My friend said she gets it, but still doesn't quite "get" it. And that's OK with me. Hell, we don't even "get" all of our hair issues, although we can definitely understand and probably relate.
Have you ever been discriminated against because you have wore straight hair?
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