I Am Not My Hair

As summer is upon us, many Black women and feminine presenting people go for ease when it comes to our hair. That can take many different forms, including braids, wigs, or weaves. For many years the way we wore our hair was seen in a negative light. When we wore our hair in braids, we were seen as unprofessional. When we decide to rock our natural hair in a ‘fro, we're perceived as "ghetto." Let’s not even talk about when we decide to loc our hair, we are now dirty.

Our hair is not representative of what’s in our heads, but it can keep us from being hired, from graduating, and until recently, enlisting in our armed forces. This is why The C.R.O.W.N. Act was so instrumental. The C.R.O.W.N. stands for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” and was created in 2019 to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles. The act is law in 22 states currently, including New York, which was the second state to adopt the bill. Although the CROWN Act was targeting black women’s hair, the law applies to people of color of all genders.
 
Some of you might be asking why is this important, it’s just hair. The Dove and Crown 2023 Workplace Studies have found: 

• Black women’s hair is 2.5x more likely to be perceived as unprofessional.
• Approximately 2/3 (66%) of Black women change their hair for a job interview. Among them, 41% changed their hair from curly to straight.
• Black women are 54% more likely (or over 1.5x more likely) to feel like they have to wear their hair straight to a job interview to be successful.
• Black women with coily/textured hair are 2x as likely to experience microaggressions in the workplace than Black women with straighter hair.
• Over 20% of Black women 25-34 have been sent home from work because of their hair.
• Nearly half (44%) of Black women under age 34 feel pressured to have a headshot with straight hair.  
• 25% of Black women believe they have been denied a job interview because of their hair, which is even higher for women under 34 (1/3).

​Help end the racial injustice of hair discrimination in the workplace, schools, and public spaces. When you see a colleague, friend or patron rocking natural hairstyles, know their C.R.O.W.N.s are a part of their Queenly joy and self-expression, and not a measure of their competence and professionalism!

---