The choice to remain or go natural is a truly liberating experience for many people, though lots of curly, coily and thick-haired curly folks still know all too well about the pressure to keep their hair styled in ways that are considered fashionable and neat in our society. Whether it’s another ad in the media with rude undertones, a commercial condemning that full head of hair, or snarky comments from a friend or family member, the prejudice against natural hair in a casual social setting is still being felt by many. While that can be frustrating enough, the tension of your hair complicating your career prospects can be downright maddening.
Curls at Work
In a recent “Vice Magazine” article, men and women with Afros were asked if their choice to wear their hair natural has negatively impacted them professionally. The answers varied from person to person. One young man encountered problems at school, while another person dealt with indirect but insinuating remarks at a career event. Still others found that their careers weren’t stunted as a consequence of wearing their hair natural.
In some opinions the long sleek look is the only look appropriate in the workplace, leaving hairstyles like big curls, locs, braids, twists, Afros and all the variations in between in an undesirable category. If those opinions were taken to heart, many unwilling candidates would be forced into wigs and weaves, chemically treating or spending hours to straighten their hair just for the sake of gaining or maintaining a career.
Thankfully, men and women around the world who wear these styles aren’t deterred from embracing their own natural hair texture and continue to forge forward in environments that may not necessarily be welcoming them with open arms.
MORE: Top 10 Professional Curly Hairstyles
Has your natural hair ever impacted your career negatively? Do you think natural hair is appropriate in a professional setting?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2012 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Career, Healthy Living & Lifestyle. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.
April 14th, 2013 at 8:40 am
Is naturally curly hair right for work, I think this is a very prejudice question. It’s like asking, Is a bald head right for work? Is gray hair right for work? Is blonde,straight hair right for work? Is kinky hair right for work? Is the hair I was born with right for work and will it offend certain people who don’t like it? But yet they try to copy it, the volume and fullness of it. Sounds like certain people have Inferiority Superiority Complex. I am not going to stop being who I am and be controlled by people who thinks the world revolves around them. This reminds me of a “Twilight Zone” episode-”The Eye of the Beholder”-
In a hospital room, her face completely covered by medical wrappings, a woman waits to see if a last-chance operation on her face has fixed the freakishness that will have her sent to a reservation of outcasts.(Sounds familiar)