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My White Manager Said My Coworker’s Hair Looked Unprofessional. My Black Manager Agreed.
“What exactly makes black hair unprofessional? I understand that our hair comes in different textures, lengths, and styles, so naturally it draws a lot of attention.
Is hair not supposed to do that?”
If you are familiar with my writings by now, you would know that I have no problem calling out the hypocrisy stemming from my own race. Because in many instances we cosign the racism and discrimination that we enjoy proclaiming we are so victimized by!
I witnessed this irony a long time ago when I held a part-time job at a retail store while I was in school. In this retail chain we were required to wear black uniforms, oxford shoes provided by the company, minimal jewelry, and neutral colored nail polish. As for our hair, no bright colors were allowed.
I worked with many races of people, and while many ladies balked at the new rule regarding their nails no one was struggling with wearing their hair in a way that was acceptable for the work place. As a black woman I had a shaved head at the time, and many of my black coworkers either had black or brown shaved heads, short fros, braids, wigs, or weaves.
That was until a black man got hired in the women’s department.
