Why is hair discrimination considered racial bias?

Roots

There exists a whisper, a deep hum that carries through generations, spoken not just in words, but in the coiled helix of a strand, the careful parting of a section, the rhythmic movement of hands. This is the enduring language of hair, a testament to belonging and remembrance. For those whose ancestry traces through the African diaspora, hair is rarely a mere adornment.

It is a living archive, a scroll unfurling the stories of resilience, cultural ingenuity, and a profound connection to ancient ways. To ask why discrimination against hair stands as racial bias means to gaze into this archive, to comprehend how attempts to police the textured crown are, at their very core, assaults on identity, on a heritage woven into the fabric of self.

What is the Elemental Composition of Textured Hair?

The architecture of textured hair, from its nascent growth within the follicle, stands distinctly apart. Unlike straight hair, which typically emerges from a round follicle, coiled or kinky strands spring from follicles that are often elliptical or flattened. This unique shape dictates the curl’s tight, spiral formation, contributing to its volume and remarkable versatility.

Within this structure lies a particular distribution of keratin, the protein that forms the hair shaft. The bonds that shape the curl also create points of natural fragility, demanding a care philosophy rooted in deep nourishment and respectful handling.

Ancestral wisdom recognized these biological realities long before microscopes revealed cellular structures. Traditional practices, honed over millennia across African civilizations, were precisely calibrated to the inherent qualities of highly textured hair. For instance, the use of rich plant butters and oils was not simply for shine; these ingredients provided essential lipids to supplement the hair’s natural moisture balance, helping to maintain its integrity against environmental challenges.

The act of communal grooming, often a centerpiece of social life, offered not only a bonding experience but also a collective knowledge transfer about managing hair’s delicate nature. This understanding, passed from elder to youth, forms a living legacy, a heritage of care that honors the hair’s elemental biology.

The intrinsic coiled pattern of textured hair, dictated by its unique follicle shape, has long been recognized through ancestral care practices focused on deep nourishment and gentle handling.

How Have Classification Systems Shaped Perceptions of Textured Hair?

Contemporary systems for classifying hair texture, often seen as neutral scientific tools, carry a history of bias that echoes through time. These systems, while aiming to categorize curl patterns, can inadvertently reinforce a hierarchy, often valuing looser curl definitions above tighter coils. Historically, the language used to describe textured hair, particularly African hair, has been tinged with derogatory terms, often comparing it to “wool” or deeming it “unmanageable”. This language, steeped in colonial perceptions, served to dehumanize and diminish, creating a foundation for discrimination that extended far beyond mere aesthetics.

Consider the very act of nomenclature. Terms like “nappy,” once common in disparaging descriptions of tightly coiled hair, became tools of social control. This linguistic denigration paralleled efforts to impose Eurocentric beauty standards. The historical imposition of these standards, particularly after the transatlantic slave trade, sought to erase the profound cultural significance of Black hair.

Enslaved Africans were often forcibly shaved upon arrival, a deliberate act designed to strip away identity and sever connections to their heritage, as African hairstyles communicated status, age, and tribal belonging. The very notion of “good hair” arose during this period, privileging straight or loosely curled textures and creating divisions even within Black communities.

A poignant instance of this historical oppression is the implementation of the Tignon Laws in Spanish colonial Louisiana in 1786. Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miró decreed that Creole women of color, renowned for their elaborate and often adorned natural hairstyles, must cover their hair with a tignon, a scarf or handkerchief, when in public. This edict was not a matter of modesty or hygiene; it was a blatant attempt to enforce racial and social hierarchies. These women, many of whom were free and economically successful, posed a perceived threat to the established order by their beauty and visibility, blurring racial and class distinctions.

The Tignon Laws sought to visually relegate them to a lower class, regardless of their actual status, effectively making their hair a symbol of subjugation. The resistance that followed, where women transformed these mandated coverings into artistic expressions of pride and dignity, stands as a powerful early example of reclaiming agency through hair.

Ritual

The tender thread of tradition continues to guide us. Textured hair care, in its truest sense, is a series of rituals, passed down through generations, each movement carrying the weight of communal wisdom and individual expression. The way we cleanse, detangle, and adorn our strands carries echoes of ancestral practices, adapted over centuries but always rooted in a profound respect for the hair’s inherent nature. Yet, these very rituals, these expressions of self and lineage, have often been met with misunderstanding, even hostility, demonstrating a pervasive racial bias.

How Have Traditional Styling Techniques Sustained Heritage?

For Black and mixed-race communities, styling is a language spoken through the hands, a continuity of ancient customs. Protective styles, for example, are not a recent trend; they carry centuries of history. Braids, twists, and locs, practiced across countless African societies, served multiple purposes beyond beauty ❉ they communicated marital status, age, tribal affiliation, and even spiritual beliefs. During the transatlantic slave trade and its aftermath, these styles became clandestine tools of resistance and survival.

Cornrows, in particular, were sometimes used to map escape routes, a silent defiance woven into the hair itself. The ability to maintain these styles under duress, to pass on the knowledge of their creation, speaks to an unbreakable spirit and a deep reverence for one’s origins.

• Cornrows ❉ Ancient braiding patterns, sometimes used as clandestine maps during enslavement.
• Locs ❉ Symbolizing spirituality and community in various African traditions.
• Thread Wrapping ❉ A technique for elongating and protecting strands, found in diverse African practices.

The “natural hair revolution” of recent decades, though a modern movement, draws directly from this long heritage, representing a powerful reclamation of ancestral aesthetics and a rejection of imposed beauty standards. It is a collective sigh of relief, a moment of profound recognition for generations who felt compelled to alter their hair to conform to Eurocentric ideals, often at significant personal cost.

Styling textured hair through traditional methods like braids and locs forms a direct connection to ancestral practices, embodying a language of identity and a legacy of resistance.

What Impact does External Perception Have on Styling Choices?

The pressure to conform, a subtle yet pervasive force, has shaped styling choices for generations within Black and mixed-race communities. The concept of “good hair” — hair that appears straight or loosely curled — has been a particularly insidious construct, fostering division within the Black community and driving individuals to chemical treatments and heat styling to approximate European textures. This external pressure is not merely societal preference; it is a manifestation of racial bias, where one’s natural hair, an immutable characteristic of racial identity, is deemed unprofessional or unkempt.

Research consistently highlights this societal bias. A 2020 study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found that Black women with natural hairstyles, such as curly afros, braids, or twists, were often perceived as less professional and less competent than Black women with straightened hair, especially in industries that favored conservative appearances (Rosette and Koval, 2021). This empirical evidence underscores how deeply embedded racial bias against natural Black hairstyles has become, impacting job opportunities and professional advancement.

This bias translates into tangible consequences ❉ Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from work because of their hair and 2.5 times more likely to be perceived as unprofessional due to their hair, according to Dove’s 2019 and 2023 CROWN Research Studies. Such statistics reveal a system where belonging often requires a visual conformity that denies one’s heritage.

Even the choice of wigs and hair extensions, while offering versatility and protective benefits, carries historical weight. Wigs, historically used for status and sometimes to mimic European styles during periods of extreme societal pressure, also offer a contemporary means of creative expression and hair protection. However, the underlying societal gaze still often influences how these options are perceived and utilized within a racialized context.

Relay

The relay of understanding extends beyond personal practice and community custom, moving into the very structures of society, where systemic inequities have long sought to police and diminish textured hair. Here, we analyze the complexities of hair discrimination as a racial bias, drawing on studies, historical patterns, and the ongoing movement for equitable recognition. The journey of textured hair, from ancient veneration to modern legislation, is a testament to an enduring spirit.

How does Hair Texture Become a Signifier of Racial Bias?

Hair texture serves as a potent, visible marker of racial identity, particularly for individuals of African descent. In societies shaped by racial hierarchies, characteristics associated with marginalized groups often become targets for discrimination. For Black individuals, their hair’s natural coiled patterns have been historically subjected to a process of racialization, wherein it is evaluated against a Eurocentric standard of beauty and professionalism.

This standard, privileging straight or loosely curled textures, leads to the perception of naturally textured hair as “unprofessional,” “unattractive,” or even “unclean”. This perception is not a neutral aesthetic judgment; it is a direct consequence of a history that linked physical attributes to social standing, where Black features were deliberately denigrated to justify enslavement and subsequent systemic oppression.

The policing of Black hair in schools and workplaces stands as a contemporary manifestation of this deep-seated racial bias. Policies, even those seemingly neutral on their face, disproportionately affect Black students and workers. For instance, dress codes that prohibit “afros,” “locs,” or “braids” while permitting other styles implicitly target and discriminate against individuals whose hair naturally forms these configurations. This racialized perception is further complicated by the fact that hair texture can, at times, become a more prominent identifier of racial difference than even skin tone.

As Emma Dabiri notes in Twisted ❉ The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture (2020), “The way language operates in the politics of power here is significant. ‘Unruly,’ ‘defiant,’ ‘unmanageable,’ ‘coarse.’ Consider these terms in the context of the regulatory nature of policies around our hair” (Dabiri, 2020, p. 28). This linguistic shift reveals how the historical language of colonial domination continues to exert influence, simply “shifted to head height” (Dabiri, 2020, p. 28).

The historical conditioning of societal norms dictates that textured hair, an inherent racial characteristic, is often deemed unprofessional or unkempt, creating a pathway for racial bias.

What Role does Legislation Play in Combating Hair Bias?

Recognizing the systemic nature of hair discrimination, legislative efforts have emerged to provide explicit protections. The CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) stands as a landmark piece of legislation. Initiated in California in 2019, the CROWN Act seeks to clarify that discrimination based on hair texture and protective styles associated with race is a form of racial discrimination and, therefore, illegal. The act explicitly adds hair texture and protective hairstyles like braids, locs, twists, and knots to existing anti-discrimination laws.

The passage of the CROWN Act in multiple states, with ongoing efforts at the federal level, marks a significant shift. For decades, courts often ruled that hair grooming policies were not racial discrimination, arguing that hairstyles were mutable characteristics rather than inherent racial traits. This legal ambiguity allowed discriminatory practices to persist, forcing Black individuals to chemically straighten their hair or adopt styles that masked their natural texture to achieve professional acceptance. The CROWN Act directly challenges this interpretation by explicitly recognizing hair as an extension of one’s racial identity.

The implications of such legislation span beyond legal protection. It contributes to a broader cultural re-education, helping to dismantle the psychological burdens associated with internalized racial oppression related to hair. Studies show that media influence regarding hair texture can contribute to higher levels of internalized racial oppression and lower ethnic affirmation among Black women (Lindsay, 2017; Pyke, 2010; as cited in Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Science, 2020). By legitimizing natural hair, the CROWN Act supports a re-centering of heritage and self-worth, allowing individuals to carry their ancestral legacy with dignity in all spaces.

Reflection

The journey of textured hair, from the intricate artistry of ancient African kingdoms to the contemporary fight for recognition, holds within it the very soul of a strand. It is a story of resistance and profound endurance, of a heritage that has survived centuries of attempts at erasure and continues to unfurl its beauty and strength. When we consider discrimination against hair as racial bias, we are not merely discussing aesthetic preference; we are speaking to the systemic denial of a cultural birthright, the very visual manifestation of a people’s history and spirit. The resilience expressed in the coils, kinks, and waves of textured hair, often deemed “unprofessional” or “unacceptable” by arbitrary standards, reflects the unwavering spirit of those who wear it.

Each strand carries the wisdom of ancestors, the creativity of communities, and the bold assertion of identity against a tide of conformity. This understanding compels us to not only challenge existing biases but to celebrate the unique beauty and profound legacy of textured hair as a living, breathing archive of human experience.