Have You Ever Been Told That Your Hair is A Hazard?

Have You Ever Been Told That Your Hair is A Hazard?

I am continuing to share more of my personal stories so that people can understand systemic racism.

When I worked in a psychiatric hospital in New York I had an Afro at the time. It was a very big Afro. One day the HR person asked me to come to her office and she told me that I had to cut my hair. I had never been asked to cut my hair for a job before.

I was perplexed.

“Why do I have to cut my hair?” I asked.

“Because it’s too long,” she said.

“What does the length of my hair have to do with my position?” I asked.

She said, “Because your hair is so long that patients could grab it and it could potentially endanger you. So it is a hazard.”

I declined to cut my hair. I would not cut my hair for my job.

For me, my hair was my identity and I didn’t see anything wrong with having an Afro and working in a psychiatric hospital.

After my meeting with the head of HR, I went back to work and I noticed that one of my co-workers had hair down to her waist. It was three times longer than my hair. If I had blown my hair out straight with a blow dryer it would may have been shoulder-length. Maybe. But this other woman who was a full-time staff member had hair down to her waist and was working at the psychiatric hospital beside me, in a higher position.

The head of HR was racist. There was no need for me to cut my hair. She just didn’t like it.

This goes to show you the effects of systemic racism. Someone who was racist should not have been head of HR.

This reminds me of a clip I saw on the news years later with a wrestler. The wrestler was about to start a match. The referee would not allow him to wrestle until he cut his hair. This was college wrestling. The man wanted to wrestle in the match. He was in shock. They pulled out scissors and began to cut his dread locks short in front of the whole audience and then he was allowed to play. But of course, the fellow was outraged and humiliated and still in shock of being forced to cut his hair to play a sport. How dis-empowering.

Again, the referee gave the excuse that his hair was a hazard, that it was not safe. But he was racist. And obviously, the news agreed for them broadcast the clip.

Have you ever been asked to cut your hair to play a sport? Or to work in a job?

Professional football players play and tackle with long hair. This is a sport where injury is common and it is guaranteed that they will be tackled. Are they forced to cut their hair? No.

Years ago, I watched a movie called Rabbit Proof Fence which showed the history of aborigines in Australia. It was about how aborigines’ children were kidnapped and raised by whites and were never able to go back to their families. In one scene, a child who had escaped was caught and the nuns took her into a little shack and cut her hair as punishment and she weeped. I couldn’t understand why that was such severe punishment until years later my hairdresser in San Francisco who was from Haiti told me that in her culture that one’s hair is one’s spirit. The same was true in aborigine culture in Australia; they honor and respect their hair. Like many cultures, they perceive the hair as being a reflection of one’s soul. So they do not want to cut their hair; they want to keep it as long as possible. As punishment white Australians cut aborigines’ hair which spiritually devastated them. Not only were they not free, but they were no longer connected to their spirit, their culture, and their intuition. Would they ever find their way back home?

For many African-Americans, Africans, and aborigines hair equates to a sense of pride and identity.

It’s so sad that in this country there is so much racism and that people try to control us down to our body, down to our hair. Consciously asking or forcing us to cut our hair is controlling. It is not allowing us to accept our culture. It is saying only if we act a certain way will we be accepted. It is showing who is in power and who is not.

Having to cut one’s hair for work, a sport or for punishment is humiliation and indicates a power struggle. Most people do not realize it, but racism is not only hating a race, but it’s a power struggle to show who is in control. It is abuse of power.

It is evident that there is racism around the world against those with darker complexion. This is a global problem. We need to become aware of how this shows up even in the smallest ways, to see how systemic this problem is.

Comment below. Have you ever been asked to cut your hair for a job? Have you ever been asked to cut your hair to play a sport? Do you relate to your hair being your sense of pride and identity? If you enjoyed this blog and wish to receive updates on future posts, click here to join the list and receive a free gift.