Naturals - Would you cut or relax your hair if...

[2cute2B4gotten]

It was for the sake of a job????

The previous post about feeling attractive with or without natural hair got me to thinking about an article that I read last week. The story was about a guy who just recently accepted an internship with (of all places) Black Enterprise!! Before he got the job, he sported locs (they may have been twists)... and after he was offered and accepted the job, he was told the locs/twists had to go because they weren't professional. Much to my surpise.... he cut them because he said that interning for BE was more important than his hair. I was angered (actually pissed) by this because I just don't agree that natural hair, twists or locs are unprofessional and I think as a whole we need to change these types of attitudes. Even though I am relaxed, I would like the option of wearing natural hair if I so choose... I don't want anybody telling me (especially my own people) that my natural hair is unprofessional!

My question is, how many of you natural girls out there would stand up for what you believe in for your hair? Would you do what he did and cut your hair or relax it for the sake of a job? Or would you stand your ground, keep your natural hair and move on to a company that TRULY appreciates diversity?

 

[PaperClip]

Nope. First it's the hair then what's next? Skin bleaching? This may be an extreme response but one has to wonder.... I thought I was hired for what I think and do and perform, not for how I look. ("Look" might relate to affirmative action, esp. for me, a double check--Black and female?)

 

[firecracker]

I would if I really needed the job.

 

[Crackers Phinn]

If I were just beginning my career and my hair interfered with the plans I made for myself -it would get changed or at least covered by a wig/weave. I wouldn't relax because it's not necessary.

I think that people get so caught up on the 'sell out' notion that they will cut their nose off to spite their face.

 

[so1913]

No. I purposely wore my hair natural while interviewing for my current position because I wanted to make sure I was joining a buisness that was more concerned with the work I would put out than whether my hair was too "nappy" for them.

 

[EMJazzy]

They should have told him before offering him the job their feelings about his hair....they backed him into a corner by waiting til after he already had the job....they never gave him a choice...oh my bad yes they did, your hair or your job sounds like a lawsuit to me.

 

[Brownshugaz]

simply put: no

 

[BrownSkin2]

No, I don't think I would relax. I'd press my hair or wear a wig/weave. Our own people are worse than others when it comes to our hair...

I work in corporate America with mostly white men and I wear my hair natural to work alot and I'm constantly getting compliments from the 'other' on my natural hair whether its a twa or twists.

 

[jngn]

I was just thinking about this. I wouldn't relax or cut my hair. Who are they to tell me the way I was born isn't good enough and that I need to change it in order to work for them? For me, being natural isn't a choice like someone dying their hair green with black dots. I didn't choose to have kinky hair that doesn't lay flat. I wear hair styles that are suitable for my hair type and they are not unprofessional. My twists are tidy and clean. What's unprofressional IMO is a straight bob in which hair flies all over the place and looks a mess after a bout with wind or rain. Besides, what does someone's hair have to do with their abilities and character ?

 

[2cute2B4gotten]

I was just thinking about this. I wouldn't relax or cut my hair. Who are they to tell me the way I was born isn't good enough and that I need to change it in order to work for them? For me, being natural isn't a choice like someone dying their hair green with black dots. I didn't choose to have kinky hair that doesn't lay flat. I wear hair styles that are suitable for my hair type and they are not unprofessional. My twists are tidy and clean. What's unprofressional IMO is a straight bob in which hair flies all over the place and looks a mess after a bout with wind or rain. Besides, what does someone's hair have to do with their abilities and character ?

I agree completely, which is why I posted the thread...just wanted to get some opinions on how strongly people feel about this subject. I just feel that "we" have to compromise on so many other things and that it just isn't right to compromise on something that we're born naturally with.

 

[Poohbear]

I would have either kept my locs if I really wanted them or cut them off if I didn't care much for having them...no harm in doing either one because I know hair grows back. In any case, I will do what I want to do and will not have someone force me to do something I don't want to do.

I just wish more people (especially us black people) would realize that any hair texture and hair length can be just as professional as straight hair or short hair.

 

[Soleado]

Absolutely not! I am born the way that I am born and that is not up for discussion. Why are we always apologizing for being black?

 

[curlilocs]

I'm really surprised that Black Enterprise, of all corporations would not embrace diversity in the workplace. This really disturbs me. I distinctly remember going to my interview with the company I'm at now wearinng my hair in cornrows and beads. I contemplated taking my braids out and blowing my hair out, but decided that braids are just as appropriate as any other "anglo" looking style as long as it's neat. Now, 5 years later, this same corporation still embraces diversity in the workplace as we have people onsite with locs, people that wear turbans, and I don't know the correct term for those, men with long ponytails, you name it we got it.

Why is it that black folks have to be so hard on one another. We do this ALL the time. Is this supposed to be preparing youth for corporate America? No, b/c any fortune 100, 500 company doesn't want to be labled as not being diverse and sensitive to other cultures. It's a harder pill to swallow from my own.


I don't know though. If I were working for a a company that manufactured hair products, or if I were in a higly visible marketing or promotional campaign that required me to wear my hair in a certain way by contractural obligations and I was making a lot of money doing this, I'd wear my hair any way you want me too, espcially if I had a team of stylists at my disposal! LOL, but not to make light of this young man's situation. It really depends on where his values are rooted. If it's just hair, but BE is the opp of a life time, it may be worth it to cut. As for me, at this point in my life, I doubt I would want to work anywhere that would not embrace me for the way I choose to wear my hair.

 

[MzTami]

I would make my hair look 'highly presentable' and I can do so without cutting or relaxing.

 

[plove]

I would if I really needed the job.

ITA he might of had alot of bills or a family that he needs to take care of and to me that is more important then hair.
And maybe once he get in the company Good he can change there minds about his hair you know kinda like open the door but first he has to get in the door.

 

[Tene]

I wouldn't cut or relax my hair for anyone.

 

[misspriss]

I'd style it neatly, probably in a conservative bun, but I wouldn't cut or relax, unless I was in the business of selling an image (I was in the entertainment, fashion, or media industry) but then I'm sure I'd have a slew of stylists and I'd be changing alot of other things concerning my appearance. Luckily, for me it's not a problem.

It's too bad some people/companies are close-minded about highly textured hair and styles, but if I needed the job...at the end of the day it's just hair and you gotta eat. Hopefully, like someone else said, when I was in a better position, I could change protocol.

 

[RainbowCurls]

No chance.

If I needed the money enough to have to work for an ignorant company I would get a wig and wear that at work. Making sure to take it off for my lunch breaks.

 

[GirlywithCurlies]

Earl Graves, the CEO of the company wrote in an editorial, basically stating that he was opposed to natural hair because "We can't afford to give white people any reason not to do business with us."

I gotta laugh at this, because if we continue to reduce ourselves to white notions of acceptability then we will, in essence, crush ourselves and our aspirations. He is obviously from the old assimilationalist school of thought, the closer to white = closer to right. Sigh....my people my people.

 

[2cute2B4gotten]

I am going to see if I can find the article so I can post it for those who want to read it.

 

[2cute2B4gotten]

Re: Naturals (Update) - Would you cut or relax your hair if...

BY ROCHELLE RILEY
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Leave Mashaun Simon alone.
For those trying to start a civil rights revolution on the back of this young writer who cut his hair to work at a magazine, here's some advice: Get a life.
Simon, a 27-year-old junior in journalism at Georgia State University, was awarded a prestigious internship at Black Enterprise magazine. Before his June 5 start date, he phoned the head of human resources to warn her that he had dreadlocks, natural hair twists with origins in the islands and worn as a sign of freedom (from convention or from expensive barber and salon bills). Simon was told his hair would not be a problem.
He was wrong. After his arrival, his coworkers, in ways both subtle and bold, let him know that it wasn't working. The editor-in-chief agreed and gave him a choice: Cut his hair or go home.
"It just went against the dress code," Simon said. "It was either go home and have my hair and not have clips (published work) -- or stay here, make the most of my summer and get the exposure I was trying to get. At the end of a day, having my hair doesn't guarantee me a job. My hair was never political or religious. It was just a style I thought I would look good in.
"Even without my hair, I'm still cute."
The art of compromise
Simon's humor will come in handy as he succeeds as a writer. He can use it to withstand the brickbats from critics who think
Black Enterprise was wrong to require the change and he was wrong to cut his hair.
Those who liken Simon to Samson, whose strength was in his hair, are missing the point: Simon's strength was having the courage to keep his own counsel in a debate not of his own making. His victory? He learned the art of compromise, something you must know when you work for someone else, as 9 in 10 Americans do.
And, quite frankly, part of being free is deciding what clubs to go to, which neighborhoods to live in, which job to take, and which battle to fight.
Earl G. Graves, the bushy-sideburned entrepreneur who founded Black Enterprise, wrote six years ago that young people, whomever they work for, must "remove every reason -- including things as superficial as our style of hair or dress -- that an advertiser, an event sponsor, a subscriber, a job candidate and even a coworker might have for not wanting to do business with us."
Graves knew what folks used to know: You go to church in your church clothes, you go to job interviews in a suit, and you don't get to wear Hawaiian shirts and shorts until you have become a star, a person of tenure, or a veteran who knows where the bodies are buried.
A special kind of courage
Those who have questioned Simon's manhood and claimed he is without courage are deluded.
Imagine the courage it takes to do what is right for you when others want to hang a poster on your back and shout, "We shall overcome," while you starve.
Simon did what young black employees once knew to do without being asked: If you worked as a bank teller, you wore professional clothing. If you worked as a teacher, you didn't wear Mary Kay LaTourneau skirts. And if you worked for a magazine where the editor required you to dress for success and wear short hair, well, it's not the Marines -- you either want the job or you don't.
Richard Prince, who broke the Simon story on his media blog "Journal-isms" -- www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/060623_prince -- surveyed a few national magazines and found that Simon could have worked at any of them without cutting his hair.
But every place isn't Black Enterprise, and every writer isn't Mashaun Simon. He should be applauded for standing up for his choice, not a choice thrust upon him by disingenuous warmongers who hide the compromises they make in their own jobs.
Years from now, people won't remember that Mashaun Simon cut his hair for an internship. But they might remember the career he had afterward.

 

[BLESSED1]

No chance.

If I needed the money enough to have to work for an ignorant company I would get a wig and wear that at work. Making sure to take it off for my lunch breaks.

^5 & +1

 

[Syrah]

No.

Brother man who had to cut his locks because they weren't professional probably didn't have neat locs. I'm a management/strategy consultant and I've worked with brothers and sisters who've had locks, fades, natural hair (worn in poofs) etc.

It's about what you do with it.

I'm not cutting my natural hair for a job because I don't need to. I Know how to do it in ways where it is neither attracting/distracting from the job I am paid to do.

And again, this thread has more to do with people's self-esteem that is associated with the natural hair, and less to do with the look of the hair itself.

 

[locabouthair]

this is a good question because my best friend told me that my texture of hair can't look neat. i've seen people wear very neat locs and afro puffs. this is a hard question but i know i'm not cuttin my hair for anyone. the only way im cutting my hair is if i have split uneven ends. i'm not sure if i will relax again. and getting my hair pressed every two weeks is annoying. i don't like the idea of changing myself for someone else. i'd have to find a job that would accept me the way i am.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

It depends on how much $ I would make. I'm not gonna lie, ya'll. I got bills bills bills!

 

[PaperClip]

And again, this thread has more to do with people's self-esteem that is associated with the natural hair, and less to do with the look of the hair itself.

I hear ya... but as much as this thread has to do with self-esteem, it very much has to do with the human resource policies that companies implement (for whatever reasons) and one has to decide that if one wants to (or feels they need to) work at a company with such a policy, then that's a separate issue....

I know for me, I don't EVER want to be so dependent on a job that I sacrifice a somewhat significant aspect of myself (as my hair, for example) for that job. Heck, I don't want to be dependent on ANY JOB... and having had two layoffs in six years (and one layoff was AFTER I had my master's degree), well, it's time to generate streams of income on my own....

 

[brownsugarflyygirl]

I think that its more important that your hair be NEAT...if his locs werent well-maintained than they could have been unprofessional....but if they were neat, tight, well groomed...then thats where I would have my problem...thats no dif than women rocking individuals...

I am just going to keep my natural hair neat...and do what I do best in professional settings...