Just read an interesting article in Black Enterprise about the professionalism of wearing your hair natural (this includes locs) or not. This debate is often talked about if you visit blogs or natural hair pages on facebook. You see questions posted asking..."I'm going in for an interview tomorrow, should I straighten my hair?". Some people have accused upper-management of excluding them because of their hair or being assumed to be the "angry, revolutionary negro". I believe this argument can be assessed two different ways. Are we questioning what other races think of our hair or are we questioning each other about the decisions to wear "big" hair to work? If you take a look back at the history of our hair (which is so complicated and should be tackled in a posting of its own) it has been a symbol of African American history since before slavery. During the 60's we were "black and proud" and promoted "power to the people" and our hair was a symbol of going against the norm. We felt it showed our pride by not conforming to the European standards of beauty. Our hair represented anti-establishment, anti-conformity, and anti-government. But are we harder on ourselves than others? In the article, Marcia Talbert states:
"Unfortunately, in my opinion, that sentiment still exists, although I do believe that fewer Whites and more Blacks actually believe it to be true. If you haven’t noticed recently, Black women with kinky hair dominate the same commercials that are cast by all White ad agencies (that is the only time you’ll hear me giving Madison Avenue props). It’s mostly Blacks, not Whites who have internalized the hype from 100 years earlier and who just won’t let it go."
So are we victims of institutionalized racism? Are we quicker to judge each other? In general, people assume things about a person based on their hair. While watching an episode of The Today Show, managers were asked to pick the woman that seemed more professional. The mostly chose the woman with straight, brunette hair. It was presumed that the woman with wild, curly hair was unorganized, loud and unprofessional. Fair?...no, but that does not mean that it does not exist. But some of the adjectives used to describe women with afros or locs were demanding, aggressive and hard to manage. These sentiments were not only shown by managers of other races, but by our own. So not only do we have to deal with stereotyping outside of our culture, but also with each other.
Here is a link to the article: http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/02/22/natural-hair-and-professionalism/2/
Take a look at it and tell us what you think. Does she have a valid point?
