Current Events > Why are many black people hair styles not allowed at work?

(+) Yeah! (+)

But other people's hair of the same length and width are.

It is official. Hair is racist
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last two places i worked at allowed any hairstyle. professional dress code at my current job, but they don't tell us what to do with our hair. dreads, erykah badu level fros, mohawks (not crazy ones though), chicks with the side shave thing.
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Afros, mohawks, and dreadlocks aren't professional and say a lot about how seriously you take yourself and your job. But this is true for any race, and this is a pretty pathetic attempt at racebaiting.
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I assume it's the same reason for facial hair guidelines. It was done in the past and changing that would insult tradition or whatever.
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Citation needed
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SageHarpuia posted...

Afros, mohawks, and dreadlocks aren't professional and say a lot about how seriously you take yourself and your job

Why?
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SageHarpuia posted...

Afros, mohawks, and dreadlocks aren't professional and say a lot about how seriously you take yourself and your job. But this is true for any race, and this is a pretty pathetic attempt at racebaiting.

Afros and dreadlocks are natural styles and I've seen many people in professional settings wear very neat dreads. And they "aren't professional" by what standard? White standards of course. I have 4a type hair, it will grow into an afro and in fact I have a textured afro right now and I'm an officer of the court.

Attitudes like this are why women damage their hair and scalp to straighten it from perms. Natural hair bias is a thing and it fucks with people's self image of themselves to the point of perms and skin bleaching, it needs to stop. People should not have to alter their natural hair texture to be more palatable in the workplace, that's the way it grows out of our scalp.
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Taharqa_ posted...

Afros and dreadlocks are natural styles and I've seen many people in professional settings wear very neat dreads. And they "aren't professional" by what standard? White standards of course. I have 4a type hair, it will grow into an afro and in fact I have a textured afro right now and I'm an officer of the court.

Attitudes like this are why women damage their hair and scalp to straighten it from perms. Natural hair bias is a thing and it fucks with people's self image of themselves to the point of perms and skin bleaching, it needs to stop. People should not have to alter their natural hair texture to be more palatable in the workplace, that's the way it grows out of our scalp.

I mean, I agree with you, but...

by what standard is anything professional? It's an entirely arbitrary thing once you get past basic hygiene, which has never been the determining factor in what is acceptable at work.

The fact that our standards for professional attire (much less grooming) are relatively free now-a-days is only because silicone valley eschewed the much more formal attire that was common in work places and invented business casual sometime in the 1980s
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It's dumb but it's not like there aren't rules that apply to everyone else too.

I don't get my hair cut the way I do because i think it looks good. I spend like $40 a year funneling myself into a hairstyle I don't care about and don't want because I don't want to be the next layoff victim. And that's bare minimum. I've no doubt some of these people who spend $40 a week do it for the same reason.

And forget work; you can't be seen anywhere with a mullet.

Ideally everyone wouldn't care about each other's hair but we don't live in an ideal world.
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which actually reminds me

the bigger problem I have is with public institutions like schools that kick kids out for having dreadlocks and shit

that is much worse than hiring discrimination which is itself already bad. there's no excuse not to allow 'unprofessional' hair styles in a damn grade school
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because racism

really, you have to ask?
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I mean, I agree with you, but...

by what standard is anything professional? It's an entirely arbitrary thing once you get past basic hygiene, which has never been the determining factor in what is acceptable at work.

History has shown us that "professional" workplace appearance is largely formed by white sensibilities.
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fenderbender321 posted...

If the customers don't like it, then it's fair game to have rules for it.

Yeah! Same if they don't like dark skin! Lighten your skin or get a new job!
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FrisbeeDude posted...

History has shown us that "professional" workplace appearance is largely formed by white sensibilities.

I mean if you're okay with saying white when you actually mean a small subset of white capitalists then yes
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I don't see what's wrong with afros. They are mainstream enough that I don't think customers would be upset about an employee having one.

As long as it's clean and tidy. And like somebody else said, safe for the job.
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SageHarpuia posted...

Afros, mohawks, and dreadlocks aren't professional and say a lot about how seriously you take yourself and your job. But this is true for any race, and this is a pretty pathetic attempt at racebaiting.

Fuck that, nothing is unprofessional about natural hairstyles. My hair naturally grows into an afro. I can't help that.
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Balrog0 posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

History has shown us that "professional" workplace appearance is largely formed by white sensibilities.

I mean if you're okay with saying white when you actually mean a small subset of white capitalists then yes

So what he said
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hockeybub89 posted...

Balrog0 posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

History has shown us that "professional" workplace appearance is largely formed by white sensibilities.

I mean if you're okay with saying white when you actually mean a small subset of white capitalists then yes

So what he said

so what I said, yeah

thank you for contributing to the topic, your virtue has been adequately signaled, ally
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fenderbender321 posted...

If the customers don't like it, then it's fair game to have rules for it.

I've been a customer at literally thousands of places and no one ever asks me what I think about the employees' hairstyles
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Balrog0 posted...

hockeybub89 posted...

Balrog0 posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

History has shown us that "professional" workplace appearance is largely formed by white sensibilities.

I mean if you're okay with saying white when you actually mean a small subset of white capitalists then yes

So what he said

so what I said, yeah

thank you for contributing to the topic, your virtue has been adequately signaled, ally

"Professional workplace attire was formed around white sensibilities, but only a small handful of white people"

like..ok? A "small handful of white people" wrote the constitution too. When your race has such overwhelming power and influence, you only need "small handful of white people"
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Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.
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fenderbender321 posted...

Professional appearance is considered much the same we consider the appearance of somebody's house or their lawn. Neat and orderly is valued. Good symmetry is valued. That's why people don't like half-shaves or dreadlocks and stuff. I don't mind them, but lots of customers are turned off by that kind of appearance.

Now if you don't work around customers? No point in having a dress code other than for safety.

This, right here, is some privilege.
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what hairstyle is exclusive to black people?
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The Admiral posted...

Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.

...like a moth to a flame lmao
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fenderbender321 posted...

eston posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

If the customers don't like it, then it's fair game to have rules for it.

I've been a customer at literally thousands of places and no one ever asks me what I think about the employees' hairstyles

I've heard people in my life say things like "and then some dumbfuck kid with dreads and tattoos shows up at the counter and...." while telling stories. You see it in yelp reviews and stuff too. It's mostly prevelant with older people.

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FrisbeeDude posted...

"Professional workplace attire was formed around white sensibilities, but only a small handful of white people"

like..ok? A "small handful of white people" wrote the constitution too. When your race has such overwhelming power and influence, you only need "small handful of white people"

Like... there are other white sensibilities other than the culturally dominant ones, and they are also excluded from the hegemon you are discussing as 'white sensibilities.' I think the fact that there are competing white sensibilities (and black ones, too, for that matter!) is probably useful in this kind of conversation

if you consider it unimportant that those other kinds of white people exist and have their own sensibilities ok?
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FrisbeeDude posted...

The Admiral posted...

Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.

...like a moth to a flame lmao

I mean he's offering an explanation for that particular hairstyle and I don't see you countering it
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FrisbeeDude posted...

The Admiral posted...

Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.

...like a moth to a flame lmao

*he says, after he's already posted three times before this merely upon seeing the word "black" in the topic title.*
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The Admiral posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

The Admiral posted...

Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.

...like a moth to a flame lmao

*he says, after he's already posted three times before this merely upon seeing the word "black" in the topic title.*

I know you don't know any black people, addy, but hairstyle in the work place is actually a very contentious topic in the black community
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Professionalism is white supremacy in action.
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SageHarpuia posted...

Afros, mohawks, and dreadlocks aren't professional and say a lot about how seriously you take yourself and your job. But this is true for any race, and this is a pretty pathetic attempt at racebaiting.

Boy I sure do love it when white people decide what hairstyles from cultures they know nothing about are "professional"!
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Damn white people and their *shuffles cards* *spills them all over the floor*

Doesn't even matter at this point.
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Taharqa_ posted...

SageHarpuia posted...

Afros, mohawks, and dreadlocks aren't professional and say a lot about how seriously you take yourself and your job. But this is true for any race, and this is a pretty pathetic attempt at racebaiting.

Afros and dreadlocks are natural styles and I've seen many people in professional settings wear very neat dreads. And they "aren't professional" by what standard? White standards of course. I have 4a type hair, it will grow into an afro and in fact I have a textured afro right now and I'm an officer of the court.

Attitudes like this are why women damage their hair and scalp to straighten it from perms. Natural hair bias is a thing and it fucks with people's self image of themselves to the point of perms and skin bleaching, it needs to stop. People should not have to alter their natural hair texture to be more palatable in the workplace, that's the way it grows out of our scalp.

get em
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Fight_The_Power posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

The Admiral posted...

Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.

...like a moth to a flame lmao

I mean he's offering an explanation for that particular hairstyle and I don't see you countering it

He literally associated a common hairstyle worn by millions of black people (myself as a child and my mother currently) with disgust and filth. His ignorance is matched only by his addiction to shit posting
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happibivouac posted...

Damn white people and their *shuffles cards* *spills them all over the floor*

Doesn't even matter at this point.

Are there natural Caucasian hair textures that aren't allowed in the professional workplace?

This actually is far more race-specific than most issues.
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happibivouac posted...

Damn white people and their *shuffles cards* *spills them all over the floor*

Doesn't even matter at this point.

It's sad we cant have conversations about things like this without people like you getting so needlessly defensive
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Fight_The_Power posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

The Admiral posted...

Dreadlooks are a giant funk and odor magnet and almost always smell disgusting if they're not washed daily... which they're usually not, since they take hours to dry.

They absolutely should be banned in any professional setting.

...like a moth to a flame lmao

I mean he's offering an explanation for that particular hairstyle and I don't see you countering it

It's an ignorant explanation. Dreads are not "dirty", in fact they need to be clean in order to knot up properly.
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fenderbender321 posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

Professional appearance is considered much the same we consider the appearance of somebody's house or their lawn. Neat and orderly is valued. Good symmetry is valued. That's why people don't like half-shaves or dreadlocks and stuff. I don't mind them, but lots of customers are turned off by that kind of appearance.

Now if you don't work around customers? No point in having a dress code other than for safety.

This, right here, is some privilege.

Yes, I am privileged to be smart enough to understand values.

Who cares about values that came out of your asshole?
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fenderbender321 posted...

Blue_Inigo posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

Professional appearance is considered much the same we consider the appearance of somebody's house or their lawn. Neat and orderly is valued. Good symmetry is valued. That's why people don't like half-shaves or dreadlocks and stuff. I don't mind them, but lots of customers are turned off by that kind of appearance.

Now if you don't work around customers? No point in having a dress code other than for safety.

This, right here, is some privilege.

Yes, I am privileged to be smart enough to understand values.

Who cares about values that came out of your asshole?

About 95% of business owners, and probably about 80% of the US population. Why do you ask?

I totally believe those stats from someone who calls black people racial slurs
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fenderbender321 posted...

Blue_Inigo posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

FrisbeeDude posted...

fenderbender321 posted...

Professional appearance is considered much the same we consider the appearance of somebody's house or their lawn. Neat and orderly is valued. Good symmetry is valued. That's why people don't like half-shaves or dreadlocks and stuff. I don't mind them, but lots of customers are turned off by that kind of appearance.

Now if you don't work around customers? No point in having a dress code other than for safety.

This, right here, is some privilege.

Yes, I am privileged to be smart enough to understand values.

Who cares about values that came out of your asshole?

About 95% of business owners, and probably about 80% of the US population. Why do you ask?

Ah, numbers that also came out of your asshole. "I've seen old people yell at clouds on Facebook and Yelp" is not a source.
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I can understand mohawks and unkempt dreads, but afros are more natural than ponytails. I fond it funny people thought my fro, that I kept clean and at a respectable length, was less professional than the perm I had that took chemicals and a bunch of grease to keep down.
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