by
Elle D.
A tweet showed up on my timeline that made me Google unprofessional and professional hairstyles:
At this point, the post has been retweeted 8.3K times and liked 5K times. And while my initial Google image search immediately sent me into “WTF” mode, you have to take a closer look and see what content actually includes those images. If you click on the “unprofessional hairstyles” Google images of natural-haired black women, most will take you to articles about why natural hair should NOT be viewed as unprofessional. Here’s one:
Here’s another:
Most of the articles I saw were not actually bashing natural hair – they were defending it. I know that I’ve addressed natural hair in the workplace several times on Quest for the Perfect Curl. If you do a Google image search right now, this article will probably show up, but it may not be apparent that I’m not bashing natural hair in the search results.
Some people even pointed out that the pictures actually aren’t being used in a negative light.
While I’m happy that, for once, the world isn’t trolling black women, it brings up another issue. Why, as black women, do we have to defend our natural hair so much that when you Google search for “unprofessional hairstyles” our discussions and debates trend highest? It is a subtle instance of privilege; other women can go to work without worry, black women have to be ready to defend their natural hair in the workplace at a moment’s notice.
10 Responses
This picture has been stirring up a lot of conversation. Today, I say my picture slide through my inbox as a Diversity Inc Best Practices article and had to speak up. Little do they know, that curly hair brown woman is little ol me. When that picture was taken, I was an intern, working to bring Michigan families natural gas and increase economic spend in Michigan by millions of dollars. In addition, I was creating a potential investment of over $3M for my company while getting an engineering degree and running my first business. To classify a woman rocking her natural hair as “unprofessional” is the exact reason I fight the good fight everyday to defy stereotypes and redefine what it means to be a woman in America, especially a brown woman! Little do they know, the same women they are stereotypically calling unprofessional because of her naturally curly hair is the same woman enhancing the quality of life for millions of residents by upgrading transmission pipeline systems throughout the state of Michigan, the same woman who is a serial entrepreneur, the same woman who is advancing the empowerment of women through the Goal Getter Group (www.goalgettergroup.com), and the same woman who will one day be a c suite executive!
They might not know, but they gone learn today! ?#?JereshiaSaid? ?#?MovingThatNeedle? #BeAGoalGetter
Sometimes in my workplace I do receive negativity when it comes to my Afro. I once had box braids and when I took them down, an employee told me that I looked better with my braids than my fro. I just shrug her opinion her off, because it didn’t matter to me what she thought.
Also this isn’t negativity but it is ignorance. Many many times I have had a customer ask if my fro was real. I have 4c hair and it is purple. So I get a lot of ignorant questions like, how did I get my hair purple? How is my Afro hair so even all around? How do I get it curly? As if I don’t go through similar hair treatments as them. They act as if it takes 10 people, a magic wand and some form of a miracle to have my natural hair look this good.
Customer service will really test your patience.
I never experienced any negativity but I can tell some people don’t like natural hair or are uncomfortable about it. I get no eye contact or I am ignored, especially when I wear my 4C afro. I also notice that when there is length, people accept it more.
I went to this federal resume writing class in DC and the presenter had the nerve to to say to the class that someone may not hire me because of my hair. I was shocked because it came out of no where. I was sad because she might feel this way about natural hair and she is a black “educated” retired female veteran in her 50’s, who is a hiring manager. We shouldn’t be having this conversation but sometimes I feel like it is our own people that have issues with natural hair or 4c hair texture. I planned on wearing a twistout but my hair did not come out right and my default hairstyle is an afro puff. My hair was neat and clean to me at least. If my hair texture was like Mahogany Curls, she probably wouldn’t have said anything. Been natural for 8 years and this was my first experience that made me sad.
Sorry for the long response but I never had issues with my hair until that day but it makes me sad that we have to decide if our natural hair is acceptable. I will continue to rock my natural 4c hair even if other people don’t like it because it is part of me.
I go back and forth on whether people have Internet-driven ADD or are just lazy, but that top tweet is what happens when you react to what’s on the surface and don’t take time to question what you’re being presented with. CONTEXT…it’s a beautiful thing…
As for whether natural hair is unprofessional, I’m going to repeat what I’ve said for years now: Not all natural hairstyles work for every environment but that doesn’t mean you can’t find one that does…and there’s one hairstyle, the TWA, that works in EVERY environment.
As of today I am the only black woman in my office who is wearing her natural mostly-4b hair in its natural state. I cut it into a tapered ‘fro last summer and I almost always wet-style (I call it a wash-stretch-and-go). Every other black woman is wearing a weave or a wig — most of them BAD — and all but one of them is YOUNGER than me. Yet some of them look at me like I’M the problem…miss me with that…
Our hair is a threat to society!!
This world is so anti-black woman we are obviously a threat to the workplace when we wear our god given hair but when its weaved, relaxed or snatched in a straight wig its not a problem???? Lord come take me off this planet.
I really look forward to the day when this will be a non-issue. I personally do not experience any negativity at the work place for my natural hair and find all this debate rather strange and unrelatable. I sometimes wonder if we are not making a mountain out of a mole hill. Fine, I give allowance that I live in Ghana and have not experienced what African Americans go through. Still, I am tired of we, of the African heritage wherever we are around the world, having to focus so intensely on our hair and what it means. Please let’s move on as there are other things in this life than our hair. If we stop making it an issue, maybe it will not be an issue. Just saying
i’ve been fired from jobs and passed over for promotions for wearing my natural hair. please don’t gaslight us when we say this is an issue. i am happy you are in a black majority nation and can wear your hair as you please, but don’t try to invalidate the experiences the rest of us are having around the world because you can’t relate or bother to be sympathetic. you’re tired of hearing about it? i was tired of being treated unfairly or not having a paycheck because of my hair and i’m tired of people who don’t share my experience trying to shut us up when we try to talk about it.
Um…what did I just read? Just because you don’t experience it doesn’t mean others don’t. That’s a very close minded way to view issues lmfao. I don’t personally experience hunger, but that doesn’t mean world hunger isn’t an issue.
The difference between a curly and straight hair, is whenever you make a braid with a curly hair, you can make a beautiful ordered braid and different hairstyle, you don’t need the lacquer, or thousands of rubber bands !
With straight hair, you can’t make a beautiful braid or different hairstyle, because you need to maintain with lacquer, hair is not sorted and the hair escapes all from outside, easily the straight hair can fall in the food, wherever you find them! So,who is not professional?