Are Hairstyles like Faux locs and Box Braids were seen as Unprofessional in the Workplace?

[LuisWilliams]

Are hairstyles like faux locs and box braids were seen as unprofessional in the workplace?

In my opinion, as long as your hair is well-groomed, neat, and tidy, it isn’t ever Unprofessional. However, my first experience with someone who had hair added onto their natural hair was someone I went to basic training with. About midway through training, she was told that her hair was not uniform and she would need to take her braids out. I didn’t know what that meant until I watched her sit in her bunk in our barracks room and remove her braids. Somehow, though they were neat and she kept them up as required for longer hair, her hair was not seen as professional by military standards (at that time, which was 1990).

I have since worked in professional offices at many different types of companies. I do live in the South (Lafayette, Louisiana for most of my professional life) so many of my employment experiences have involved very few women of color. These employers would likely consider styles like faux locs and box braids unprofessional. I have also worked for a local community college where many of the people employed were civil service employees and the state and the college were much more open-minded about hairstyles and dress, allowing for people to have hair that was colorful and locks and braids. Even my extremely conservative supervisor did not have a problem with such styles (he was also a young black man with a doctorate in student affairs and was our Title IX coordinator so that may be part of why it was not frowned upon) even though he wanted us to avoid bright colors and patterns in our clothing to appear more professional. That was probably the best work environment I’ve ever experienced.

I don’t think it’s unprofessional to have those styles. I think a lot of employers are just overly conservative white people who need to be more open-minded and less racist.