Is Natural Hair in the Workplace Really Frowned Upon?

I've been wearing my hair natural (sans a chemical straightening relaxer) since the late 90's. Relaxers were damaging to my hair at times and I often admired the versatility and beauty of natural hair. I was inspired by friends, relatives and hair models in magazines (Essence Magazine) to have the confidence to grow my natural hair out and experiment with various hairstyles. I have worn braids, twists, uprolls, curly-fros, and twist outs, all styles that women with natural hair experiment. Over the long run I seemed to be saving tons of money because I wasn't going to a hair salon every other week or once a month for relaxer touch ups or roller sets. But I was spending money on hair care books (Plaited Glory, Good Hair), hair products (Carol's Daughter, Nature's Gate, Miss Jessie's,Aveda) and professional trims on a regular basis. I got creative and learned how to care for my own hair and along the way I have gotten many compliments! In between wearing natural styles I occasionally have my hair blow dryed straight when I want a different look. I am not going to say that I will never have my hair relaxed again, but I have found that natural hair is extremely versatile and I believed that our culture and society had been accepting of natural hair styles worn by women of color or anyone for that matter.

But then, I recently received an email that a staff person from a magazine, made comments at a professional women's event, which revealed a less than supportive attitude toward women wearing natural hair styles in the workplace.

As far as my hair goes I don't consider it a political statement, nor do I have anything against straight hair or women who relax their hair. You cannot control the texture, shape, or width of your hair, which you were born with. That is all genetics. Women have the right to choose how we present ourselves to the world. We have a right to choose to create an image for ourselves that we are comfortable about and confident about. It is discriminating if anyone in your workplace ever makes dissaproving statements about the way someone wears their hair. Now if your hair or appearance is unkempt or unclean, that's another issue. But wearing neatly styled twists, an afro, braids or locks should not cause an uproar in a person's workplace. People need to focus on the quality of a person's performance on a job, not their hair. But in our society we sometimes focus on very petty things to judge or insult someone rather than the tasks at hand or a person's character. I have never experienced any discrimination on a job because of my hair, it just seems ridiculous that anyone would focus on that in this day and age. But then again, nothing really surprises me too much, anymore.

What do you think?