MonaLisa
Well-Known Member
When Katrina Williams left the relaxed, diverse and freewheeling confines of a dot-com for one of New York's largest management consulting firms, she worried that her hairstyle wouldn't fit in among those worn by her peers.
For most of her time at her Internet employer, Williams, who is black, wore her hair in tightly braided strands but had recently switched to a "coily" style of tight curls. But as she began her consulting job, she worried her whether her "natural hairstyle" would hurt her at her new job.
"'Should I go ahead and straighten it?'" Williams says that she asked herself. "'Will it be okay if I have braids? How will I have to wear them? Is it professional looking enough?' Those considerations came up."
Race remains one of America's most vexing problems, and for many, hair remains one of the most visible and potent symbols of race. For decades, blacks eager to succeed among whites fought negative stereotypes by controlling their hair, combing it straight, perming it for women or, in the case of men, cropping it unobtrusively short.
Today, workplaces have grown more diverse, and many blacks have grown more comfortable embracing styles that emphasize the unique qualities of their hair. But those working in high-prestige industries such as consulting, banking and law say they still sometimes worry that braids, dreadlocks, or even "coily" hairstyles will hinder them in their in the affluent, professional - and still largely white - worlds of business, law and finance.
"Wild, uncontrollable hair is always a problem," said Kenneth Jackson a history professor at Stanford University who has studied America's perception of black hair. "Uncontrollable hair is a violation of the social order. Uncontrollable black hair is doubly so."
'They want something that looks professional'
For the past 22 yours, Annu Prestonia has been styling hair for her largely black clientele. For $75, Prestonia's Manhattan salon will fashion "Starter Locs," short, tight twists of hair. For $650, two of Prestonia's stylists will spend eight hours to create a "Micro Braid" long, fine strands of braided hair.
But even as Prestonia's hairstyles continue to gain more visibility in the fashion world, music videos, advertisements and television shows, many of those who can afford Prestonia's weaves, braids and dreadlocks say they're worried her frizzy "Bush Baby" and thick "Trini Braid" styles will make them stand out and hurt their careers.
"There's that segment that wants to excel, that wants to go up the ladder and knows that they can't go too far out of the norm and still get where they want to go in the work environment," Prestonia said. "They work in a corporate environment, and they want something that looks professional."
In this case, "looking professional" frequently serves as a euphemism for not looking too black - the black of hip-hop videos and NBA players, the black that seems so far from the standards and mores of Wall Street or the corporate boardroom. Noticeably ethnic hairstyles can signal, to many, a rejection of mainstream white culture or assimilationist middle-class black values.
"It has a lot to do with working in what are still predominately monocultural environments," said Chris Metzler, a black attorney who works for Hubbard & Revo-Cohen, a Washington, D.C. workplace consulting firm. "I don't believe that comports with the demographic realities."
'My hair might scare some people'
Vincent Kelsey, an office temp in a Madison Avenue office building, wears his hair in short, coiled twists. The hairstyle, he said, helps him connect to his largely African American and West Indian Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. As an office temp, Kelsey says he doesn't feel as much pressure to conform to the short, combed-down hairstyles worn by most of the others in his office. But Kelsey says he know his hair will probably hinder his chances of moving into corporate America.
"When I go to an interview, I know how to dress for an interview, but my hair might scare some people," Kelsey said.
Some people may find dreadlocks inappropriate for work because they perceive them to be a sign of militant black consciousness.
"I think the issue is race," Metzler said. "I think the braids are just too ethnic for these white collar professionals."
Gayle Williams, an editorial writer for the Journal News newspaper in White Plains, N.Y., has worn dreadlocks for the past six years. But at first, Williams said she worried her co-workers would misperceive her true motive for wearing 18-inch locks - simplicity - for a less appealing reason.
"Would the reaction be positive or negative?" Williams said. "Would people think I was a lunatic Rastafarian, or would it be just seen as a hairstyle?"
But few black women now wear dreadlocks purely as an expression of black consciousness or as a rejection of white society, said Lori Tharps, the co-author of the forthcoming book from St. Martin's Press, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America.
"If I'm celebrating my hair in its natural form, does that mean I'm militant or somehow against mainstream culture? No." Tharps said. "I think especially today, people are choosing hairstyles because they're attractive or even trendy."
'When people have gaps in their understanding, they fill them, often times with negative information'
The resistance to dreadlocks may also stem from ignorance of the process behind them. Untreated, unstyled black hair will naturally curl around itself, coiling into twists or longer dreads.
"There's a misunderstanding that you can't wash your hair with dreadlocks," Tharps said. "When people have gaps in their understanding, they fill them, often times with negative information. They think it goes against nature, that it's not natural. It's just the opposite. That's what black hair does when it's left in its natural state."
People may also associate dreadlocks with racist images from the country's past, such as wildhaired Topsy or Uncle Tom.
"There's always a little corner of the American imagination that's picturing dreadlocks that way," Stanford University's Jackson said.
While many companies have long enforced grooming standards on their employees and continue to do so, few have taken overt steps to prevent black workers from wearing braids or dreadlocks, since doing so would likely invite a lawsuit.
"The reason why this sort of thing is discriminatory in some instances, is that it may have a disparate impact on some minority groups," said David Grinberg, a spokesman for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "The reason I say disparate is that it could have a disproportionate impact on blacks, or Hispanics. If a policy makes a policy that applies to all employees, then it's not disparate, but if that one group is affected, when other groups are not, that's why it may be considered discriminatory."
But several people said the pressure to conform, even if it wasn't overt, was just as strong.
"I've talked to people who worked in Prudential and Morgan Stanley, where there's nothing in the dress code that says you cannot wear deadlocks, but there's an understanding that if you want to get ahead, you will keep a short, manicured haircut," Tharps said.
'Erring on the side of being conservative can be an advantage'
For dreadlocked college students facing company recruiters, the racial pride fostered during university life can run headlong into these realities of corporate life.
"The main question I get is when the person has long braids, is 'Should I wear them out?'" said Carol Y. Dudley, the coordinator of Howard University's School of Communications Office of Career Development. "I tell my students that I treat someone with long braids the same way as with regular long hair. The hair should always be pulled back and serve as little distraction as possible."
But Howard University counselors added that dreadlocks were much less common among students in the university's business school, reflecting either a conservative strain among business students or just a more thorough understanding of the costs of keeping ethnocentric hairstyles.
"I tell my students to err on the side of conservatism," said Harold Gray, the director of the Howard University School of Business' Center for Professional Development "When in doubt, do without. I'm not telling them not to do it, I'm telling them there are consequences if you do."
A student who shears off his dreadlocks isn't succumbing to racist hostility against black hairstyles, Gray said, just dealing with racism in a practical manner.
"In the business school, you're facing so many odds that a student who is not of color may have to face. Many times, a student of color has to be twice as good," Gray said. "We want our students to be prepared on all levels. Discrimination or biases are still going to exist, and you have to compensate for that. Erring on the side of being conservative can be an advantage."
Katrina Williams, the New York management consultant, says she's not interested in wearing braids to work anymore - they're too time consuming to groom - but values her right to wear her hair as it grows naturally.
"When it comes to, 'This is my hair, natural,' versus 'Do I need to perm it?'" Williams said, "I just decided if people are looking at my natural hair and thinking it's not professional, that's not a place where I should be working, because they clearly have some discrimination issues."
http://asia.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=318&article_id=54016&listelement=1&cat_id=1223
For most of her time at her Internet employer, Williams, who is black, wore her hair in tightly braided strands but had recently switched to a "coily" style of tight curls. But as she began her consulting job, she worried her whether her "natural hairstyle" would hurt her at her new job.
"'Should I go ahead and straighten it?'" Williams says that she asked herself. "'Will it be okay if I have braids? How will I have to wear them? Is it professional looking enough?' Those considerations came up."
Race remains one of America's most vexing problems, and for many, hair remains one of the most visible and potent symbols of race. For decades, blacks eager to succeed among whites fought negative stereotypes by controlling their hair, combing it straight, perming it for women or, in the case of men, cropping it unobtrusively short.
Today, workplaces have grown more diverse, and many blacks have grown more comfortable embracing styles that emphasize the unique qualities of their hair. But those working in high-prestige industries such as consulting, banking and law say they still sometimes worry that braids, dreadlocks, or even "coily" hairstyles will hinder them in their in the affluent, professional - and still largely white - worlds of business, law and finance.
"Wild, uncontrollable hair is always a problem," said Kenneth Jackson a history professor at Stanford University who has studied America's perception of black hair. "Uncontrollable hair is a violation of the social order. Uncontrollable black hair is doubly so."
'They want something that looks professional'
For the past 22 yours, Annu Prestonia has been styling hair for her largely black clientele. For $75, Prestonia's Manhattan salon will fashion "Starter Locs," short, tight twists of hair. For $650, two of Prestonia's stylists will spend eight hours to create a "Micro Braid" long, fine strands of braided hair.
But even as Prestonia's hairstyles continue to gain more visibility in the fashion world, music videos, advertisements and television shows, many of those who can afford Prestonia's weaves, braids and dreadlocks say they're worried her frizzy "Bush Baby" and thick "Trini Braid" styles will make them stand out and hurt their careers.
"There's that segment that wants to excel, that wants to go up the ladder and knows that they can't go too far out of the norm and still get where they want to go in the work environment," Prestonia said. "They work in a corporate environment, and they want something that looks professional."
In this case, "looking professional" frequently serves as a euphemism for not looking too black - the black of hip-hop videos and NBA players, the black that seems so far from the standards and mores of Wall Street or the corporate boardroom. Noticeably ethnic hairstyles can signal, to many, a rejection of mainstream white culture or assimilationist middle-class black values.
"It has a lot to do with working in what are still predominately monocultural environments," said Chris Metzler, a black attorney who works for Hubbard & Revo-Cohen, a Washington, D.C. workplace consulting firm. "I don't believe that comports with the demographic realities."
'My hair might scare some people'
Vincent Kelsey, an office temp in a Madison Avenue office building, wears his hair in short, coiled twists. The hairstyle, he said, helps him connect to his largely African American and West Indian Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville. As an office temp, Kelsey says he doesn't feel as much pressure to conform to the short, combed-down hairstyles worn by most of the others in his office. But Kelsey says he know his hair will probably hinder his chances of moving into corporate America.
"When I go to an interview, I know how to dress for an interview, but my hair might scare some people," Kelsey said.
Some people may find dreadlocks inappropriate for work because they perceive them to be a sign of militant black consciousness.
"I think the issue is race," Metzler said. "I think the braids are just too ethnic for these white collar professionals."
Gayle Williams, an editorial writer for the Journal News newspaper in White Plains, N.Y., has worn dreadlocks for the past six years. But at first, Williams said she worried her co-workers would misperceive her true motive for wearing 18-inch locks - simplicity - for a less appealing reason.
"Would the reaction be positive or negative?" Williams said. "Would people think I was a lunatic Rastafarian, or would it be just seen as a hairstyle?"
But few black women now wear dreadlocks purely as an expression of black consciousness or as a rejection of white society, said Lori Tharps, the co-author of the forthcoming book from St. Martin's Press, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America.
"If I'm celebrating my hair in its natural form, does that mean I'm militant or somehow against mainstream culture? No." Tharps said. "I think especially today, people are choosing hairstyles because they're attractive or even trendy."
'When people have gaps in their understanding, they fill them, often times with negative information'
The resistance to dreadlocks may also stem from ignorance of the process behind them. Untreated, unstyled black hair will naturally curl around itself, coiling into twists or longer dreads.
"There's a misunderstanding that you can't wash your hair with dreadlocks," Tharps said. "When people have gaps in their understanding, they fill them, often times with negative information. They think it goes against nature, that it's not natural. It's just the opposite. That's what black hair does when it's left in its natural state."
People may also associate dreadlocks with racist images from the country's past, such as wildhaired Topsy or Uncle Tom.
"There's always a little corner of the American imagination that's picturing dreadlocks that way," Stanford University's Jackson said.
While many companies have long enforced grooming standards on their employees and continue to do so, few have taken overt steps to prevent black workers from wearing braids or dreadlocks, since doing so would likely invite a lawsuit.
"The reason why this sort of thing is discriminatory in some instances, is that it may have a disparate impact on some minority groups," said David Grinberg, a spokesman for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "The reason I say disparate is that it could have a disproportionate impact on blacks, or Hispanics. If a policy makes a policy that applies to all employees, then it's not disparate, but if that one group is affected, when other groups are not, that's why it may be considered discriminatory."
But several people said the pressure to conform, even if it wasn't overt, was just as strong.
"I've talked to people who worked in Prudential and Morgan Stanley, where there's nothing in the dress code that says you cannot wear deadlocks, but there's an understanding that if you want to get ahead, you will keep a short, manicured haircut," Tharps said.
'Erring on the side of being conservative can be an advantage'
For dreadlocked college students facing company recruiters, the racial pride fostered during university life can run headlong into these realities of corporate life.
"The main question I get is when the person has long braids, is 'Should I wear them out?'" said Carol Y. Dudley, the coordinator of Howard University's School of Communications Office of Career Development. "I tell my students that I treat someone with long braids the same way as with regular long hair. The hair should always be pulled back and serve as little distraction as possible."
But Howard University counselors added that dreadlocks were much less common among students in the university's business school, reflecting either a conservative strain among business students or just a more thorough understanding of the costs of keeping ethnocentric hairstyles.
"I tell my students to err on the side of conservatism," said Harold Gray, the director of the Howard University School of Business' Center for Professional Development "When in doubt, do without. I'm not telling them not to do it, I'm telling them there are consequences if you do."
A student who shears off his dreadlocks isn't succumbing to racist hostility against black hairstyles, Gray said, just dealing with racism in a practical manner.
"In the business school, you're facing so many odds that a student who is not of color may have to face. Many times, a student of color has to be twice as good," Gray said. "We want our students to be prepared on all levels. Discrimination or biases are still going to exist, and you have to compensate for that. Erring on the side of being conservative can be an advantage."
Katrina Williams, the New York management consultant, says she's not interested in wearing braids to work anymore - they're too time consuming to groom - but values her right to wear her hair as it grows naturally.
"When it comes to, 'This is my hair, natural,' versus 'Do I need to perm it?'" Williams said, "I just decided if people are looking at my natural hair and thinking it's not professional, that's not a place where I should be working, because they clearly have some discrimination issues."
http://asia.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp?nr_page=3&ch_id=318&article_id=54016&listelement=1&cat_id=1223
