Black Hairstyles in the Workplace and Why This is not Ordinary

Along with the Visual Culture in Politics class, I am also currently enrolled in a Dress and Culture course. In this class we often discuss why certain dress seems to appear out of the ordinary to us and not to everyone. Recently, we had a guest speaker come discuss natural hair for the African American race and its history. She discussed with us that not everyone has accepted natural hair and that for a long time, people were identified by whether they wore their hair "natural" or not. She shared with us this blog post that takes caucasian business women and styles their hair how some African American women might wear their hair. It discusses the issue of how, when we see these hairstyles in the workplace, we do not see them as professional or "appropriate" for the workplace. But why? In this particular image, is it the attire that makes it look different? Is it the look on this woman's face? Why do we not consider braids or "afro" hairstyles professional? Many African Americans are offended by the fact that their look is not accepted by everyone. There have been many women that have been told to straighten their hair or get weaves, to fit the "norm" that society has created. Especially women that have professions where they are highly respected or looked up to. For example, news anchors have been wearing hair that is not theirs for many years and some are starting to shave their heads and rock their "natural" hair. One other reason that women have also been trying to love the hair they were born with is to set examples for kids. Many young girls feel like they do not fit in and will continue to feel this way if they do not look the same as everyone else and conform. Like this woman in the image, we see this as abnormal, so if a young girl wants to get a good job someday, she will feel like she needs to change herself, and this is not how it should be. I think that these pictures could change the way we view natural hair in the workforce. Braids, twist, and afros could become more widely accepted if we start to show things like these and if we stop considering it as outside of the norm.



http://www.balleralert.com/profiles/blogs/black-hair-styles-in-the-work-place