Natural Hair at School and in the Workplace

Combating stereotypes and stigmas on your journey to success For far too long, natural hair has been unjustly criminalized in schools and professional environments. The thought that you can be disciplined for simply embracing the hair that grows from your scalp is absurd, but it still happens today.

Many children are being taught something is innately wrong about features inherited from their BIPOC identities, creating unhealthy environments for minorities battling to thrive professionally. It hinders the well-being of people that the majority has systematically constructed as unfavorable. Hair Does Not Determine Intelligence The size or texture of a person's hair does not determine their intelligence or learning ability. So why are children still being sent home and excluded for nothing more than a distinct physical feature? It's no tough case to crack.

Society

While society continues battling systemic racism and other communities filled with microaggressions, it's very clear to see just how prejudice has evolved towards minorities. When society teaches BIPOC that their kinky or curly hair is unprofessional, it is simply finding a new way to say, "BIPOC people are Unfavorable." Just because the words do not come out of the mouths of our teachers, principles, professors, employers, and other authority figures, this does not mean they are not expressing microaggressions with the same purpose. Diversity Can Help Criminalizing students or other professionals for the hair on their heads, sets a trap for certain identities within society.

Diversity

Building a more diverse and inclusive society is the only way to combat the corruption and microaggressions that exist today. By fostering healthy exposure, everyone will have the opportunity to unlearn some of the harmful practices passed down through our system.