No Discrimination Against Natural Hair Movement - Education is Needed!

For the majority of my life I have used chemicals to straighten my hair. My Mother started it when I was twelve years old. It was the thing to do after pressing or straightening it with a hot comb, having my ears burned and even hair singed at times. This was what they did back in the day to get that (white girl hair look) that society said that we had to have. If that was not and option, then wigs were the next best thing. In the seventies, Black women began to embrace their natural hair in the form of Afros, big, short, curly, tight, whatever. Then we progressed to cornrows or braids. Now we have fully embraced the hair that God gave us and rightfully so. God does not make any mistakes and this is how He made us.. If He had wanted everybody to have long straight hair, He would have made us that way. So what is my point you ask? My point is that white people need to understand that having natural hair is who we really are, it’s not about making a statement or being rebellious as some would like to believe. It’s about being who we were born to be. It has no bearing whatsoever on who we are, or what we can accomplish. Having said that, not that I feel I need to explain why I wear natural hair however, the chemicals that are used to straighten our hair have been proven to be harmful to the body even the reproductive system in young girls. I always had nice healthy hair but as I grew older I found the chemicals caused my thick hair to thin out. Once I decided to cut all of my hair off and go natural, my hair was once healthy again. So why is this important to me? Because I need those who are in the position of hiring to understand that the persons hair does not determine if they can do the job and if you can accept others as they are, then you need to re-evaluate how you look at and treat Black people when interviewing them because they don’t fit that perceived corporate look. Allow people to be who they are. You will miss out on some great talent and opportunities when you can’t look past the physical. Natural hair is not for everybody and that’s ok, but everybody deserves that same opportunity either way.

Dr. Jacqueline King