DON’T TOUCH MY HAIR!
awareness to hair discrimination
Bringing
in the UK.
Anaelle Kouassi
What is hair discrimination?
Hair discrimination refers to the policies that aim to prohibit natural hairstyles, such as afros, braids and locs in the workplace and in schools. It has been used to justify the removal of black children from schools or black adults from their workplaces as there is no law in place to protect them. – NAACP
Hair discrimination in the UK is a rampant issue, affecting the education of Black school children and the livelihood of Black adults. Black people have been refused jobs and given ultimatums at work because their hair doesn’t look ‘professional’.
Did you know...
The perception institute found that 1-in-5 black women feel social pressure to straighten their hair for work – twice as many as white women.
The Majority of the participants in the ‘Good Hair Study’ by the Perception Institute showed implicit bias against textured hair.
A study by Pantene found that 52% of black people with afro hair said that the discrimination against their natural hair has had a negative impact on their selfesteem and mental health.
Ruby Williams, a secondary school student, repeatedly got sent home from school for a school uniform violation – the violation was that she was wearing her natural hair out to school. She was told that it was ‘too big’.
Who does hair discrimination affect and how?
Hair discrimination affects Black men and womxn, but primarily Black womxn. It is rooted in systematic racism dating back to the 1800s. Textured hair has long been looked down upon with the idea that textured hair is ‘dirty’ and unkept being something that many people still believe today. Texturism has become such an integrated part of society that to many its second nature, being told that your hair is ‘nappy’ or ‘crusty’ or having random people touch your afro or your protective styles because they look ‘exotic’ and different.
Afro hair discrimination has been around for centuries, it goes all the way back to the colonial period where the perception of Black hair was changed. During pre-colonial Africa, hair was a symbol for a variety of things such as power, wealth, tribe, and identity. However, during slave trade, Black hair was shown to be dirty, and ‘ugly’ to make Black people seen as lesser than their white counterparts. This idea is still prevalent today and many Black people still face discrimination because of their hair.
The Eurocentric beauty standard has pushed the idea that straight hair is beautiful, loose curls are ‘exotic’ and waves are cute, but when it comes to 4C hair many people still regard it as ‘dirty’ and ‘unkept’. This has led Black womxn to spend massive amounts of money on chemical relaxers, wigs, extensions, and hair in general. According to consumer data from Statista, the hair care market in the UK is measured at £1.72Bn, Black womxn are said to spend six times more than their white counterparts on haircare even though we only make up 4% of the female population in the UK.
The effects of hair discrimnation
The stress on Black womxn to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards has been harmful to them mentally and regarding health. Hair products such as lye-based relaxers, leave-in conditioners, and straightening oils can be cancerous to Black womxn. Many of these products contain oestrogens or oestrogen-disrupting compounds which can contribute to the risk of breast cancer in Black womxn. Black womxn are more likely to develop highly aggressive breast cancer which has a higher mortality rate, scientist have linked this to the harmful chemicals in relaxers known as endocrine disrupters which can interfere with the functionality of hormones and could potentially raise the risk of breast cancer.
DID YOU KNOW...
Black women’s health study – 95% of womxn reported current or past use of relaxers and chemicals in their hair... - Hair product use and breast cancer incidence in the Black Women’s Health Study
Another issue caused by the need to fit into a Eurocentric beauty standard is traction alopecia. Traction alopecia is a form of alopecia that is a result of prolonged or repetitive tension to the scalp such as wearing tight ponytails, tight braids, wigs etc. Traction alopecia can also be caused by heat, and chemicals.
Signs of permenant traction alopecia.
DID YOU KNOW....
Traction alopecia affects one third of black women, and a study conducted by the Boston University revealed that 48% out of 6,000 participants suffered from alopecia. - BBC NEWS.
How can we help?
There are a variety of ways to help, many of these ways involve taking an active stance and educating yourself on the issues that black people face daily. Ignorance isn’t an excuse. Here is a list of ways to help:
1) Sign petitions to get hair discrimination banned in the workplace and in schools. The petition looks classify hair discrimination as a form of racial discrimination under the Equality Act. – In the UK more than half of Black school children get sent home from school for wearing their natural hair out or in a form of protective style such as braids.
https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-ban-hair-discrimination-in-the-uk
2) Educate yourself on Black hair and don’t be ignorant. – there are many resources that you can use to educate yourself on the topic of black hair. It is not an excuse to not know. Try to make an active choice and put the effort into finding out why many are protesting hair discrimination.
3) Don’t ask to touch anyone’s afro or protective style. – We are human beings not animals, and not a petting zoo. No matter how ‘exotic’ or ‘different’ the hairstyle looks, please do not ask to touch it, or just reach out to touch it.
4) Try to unlearn any implicit bias for kinky or type 4C hair. – 4C hair isn’t ‘nappy’ ‘dirty’ or ‘unkept’. It’s a hair texture and should be appreciated and accepted just as much as other forms of curls are. Black people are not a monolith, we do not owe anyone perfect curls.
The Halo Ciollective.
The halo collective is an alliance of organisations and individuals that work to create a future without hair discrimination.
The halo code – this is a campaign pledge that schools and businesses have signed that promises members of the black community that they will not be discriminated against for their hair. It pledges to ensure that black people have the “freedom and security to wear afro hairstyles without restrictions or judgement.”
As part of the effort to fight hair discrimination, we would like to collaborate with the halo collective to deliver lectures and classes to spread awareness and educate those who wouldn’t have access to it otherwise.
https://halocollective.co.uk/
World Afro Day
World Afro Day takes place on the 15th of September. This day is part of a movement to help remove the biases surrounding afro and textured hair and push acceptance and love for black hair.
As part of this project, we would like to team up with World Afro Day and hold events in schools about the history of black hair and the unlearning of biases against textured hair. The events will feature the history of black hairstyles, the different types of hair textures and how to take care of those hair textures for black students. We would also like to offer voluntary diversity training for those who want to know how to tackle hair discrimination in their workplaces.
https://www.worldafroday.com/
Posters and infographics in the workplace.
To help workplaces tackle the issue of hair discrimination, posters and infographics will be handed out to workplaces and in schools about the dos and don’ts of natural hair. These posters will include how to not alienate those with natural hair and how to deal with issues concerning hair discrimination. The posters will also offer help for those who have been discriminated against and what they can do to help themselves in those situations.
There will also be posters plastered around London to bring awareness to the issue. The posters will support the ‘Don’t touch my hair’ movement and will aim to catch the reader’s attention and to hopefully push them to do further reading on the topic.
Hair discrimination in the UK is a big issue that many people are still unaware of. This issue needs to be brought to light and taken seriously by everyone because it isolates those who are on the receiving end. We should all do our part to educate ourselves on these topics to avoid making ignorant mistakes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/27/black-women-hair-products-health-hazardsstudy
https://www.redefy.org/stories/the-damage-of-eurocentric-beauty-standards
https://www.change.org/p/uk-government-ban-hair-discrimination-in-the-uk
https://www.worldafroday.com/
https://www.verywellhealth.com/breast-cancer-in-black-women-5191228
https://www.bu.edu/bwhs/
https://halocollective.co.uk/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-47403686
https://theconversation.com/what-is-alopecia-its-no-laughing-matter-for-millions-of-black-american-women-180213
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/jada-pinkett-smith-uplifting-black-women-alopecia-rcna11273
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160304093239.htm#:~:text=INVESTIGATING%20 THE%20ISSUE-,Dr.,or%20top%20of%20the%20scalp.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/55249674
https://www.vogue.co.uk/beauty/article/world-afro-day
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-hair-discrimination-watchdog-equalities-b1941567.html
https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/world-afro-day
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/58971403
https://www.hji.co.uk/latest/the-halo-code-introduced-prevent-hair-discrimination-uk/
https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/hair-discrimination-uk-workplace
https://www.dove.com/uk/stories/about-dove/ending-hair-discrimination.html
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/25/black-pupils-excluded-hair-discrimination-equality-act
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/discriminating-people-for-their-hair-could-become-illegal_uk_616fcee7e4b09314320446a5
https://www.naacpldf.org/natural-hair-discrimination/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/18/discrimination-black-hairstyles-bill-passes-us-house https://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/hair/black-hair-history-definitive-historic-moments/437183
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/tangled-roots-decoding-the-history-of-black-hair-1.5891778
https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5abvx/black-womens-hair-illegal-tignon-laws-new-orleans-louisiana https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/madam-cj-walker
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?cc=mfsfront;c=mfs;c=mfsfront;idno=ark5583.0022.105;rgn=main;view=text;xc=1;g=mfsg
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/tangled-roots-decoding-the-history-of-black-hair-1.5891778
https://www.law.com/international-edition/2021/10/28/black-hair-is-never-just-hair-a-closer-look-at-afro-discrimination-in-the-workplace/?slreturn=20220424144050#:~:text=Afro%20hair%20discrimination%20 has%20been,beauty%20was%20supposed%20to%20be.
https://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/future-black-hair-industry-natural-hair-black-owned-business-beauty/304786
https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/why-black-women-spend-so-much-on-hair#:~:text=According%20to%20market%20and%20consumer,4%25%20of%20the%20female%20population.
https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article/42/7/924/6278856?login=true
https://eu.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/02/24/black-hair-care-products-toxic-dangerous-chemicals-black-women-breast-cancer-fibroids-edcs/4564877002/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/25-year-long-study-of-black-women-links-frequent-use-of-lyebased-hair-relaxers-to-a-higher-risk-of-breast-cancer
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/fashion/braids-weaves-extensions-and-traction-alopecia.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/25-year-long-study-of-black-women-links-frequent-use-of-lyebased-hair-relaxers-to-a-higher-risk-of-breast-cancer#:~:text=Twitter-,25%2Dyear%2Dlong%20study%20 of%20Black%20women%20links%20frequent%20use,higher%20risk%20of%20breast%20cancer&text=Frequent%20and%20long%2Dterm%20use,compared%20with%20more%20moderate%20use.
https://academic.oup.com/carcin/article/42/7/924/6278856?login=true
https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21583
https://www.pantene.co.uk/en-gb/end-hair-discrimination/
https://www.verywellmind.com/bias-against-natural-hair-limits-opportunity-for-black-women-5077299#citation-1
https://perception.org/goodhair/results/#:~:text=One%20in%20five%20black%20women,more%20 often%20than%20white%20women.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-hair-discrimination-watchdog-equalities-b1941567.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/afro-hair-discrimation-student-legal-action-payout-ruby-williams-urswick-school-a9323466.html
Don’t Touch My Hair! It’s not your toy.
06 ways
to Avoid hair discrimination.
Don’t make unsolicitated comments about my hair.
Nothing is more awkward than being in an environment where no one looks like you and someone singles you out by commenting on your hair.
Don’t put me in an awkward position by asking awkward questions.
Don’t ask whether I can straughten my hair or whether it’s real or not. If you want to complement me, then do so without a follow-up.
Supporting hair policies that will unfairly affect Black women
Hair policies in work places such as ‘no hats’ can be a form of microagression. Policies like these are culturally incompetent because they don't consider differences in hair care.
Don’t make ‘jokes’ that are based on stereotypes.
My hair is not ‘nappy’, ‘dirty’, ‘ unkept’ and I don’t wear a wig because I’m bald. These jokes are harmful and racist.
Educate yourself on the topic and ask when you don’t know.
Ignorance is a choice and can be xed. Do your own research on how to avoid stereotyping and hair discrimination.
Finally, please dont touch my hair or ask to touch my hair!
It’s not a toy and it’s rude.
