Teen Vogue Reports:
In early February, the Perception Institute released the results of their 2016 study confirming that black women with natural hair experience bias in the workplace. The ‘Good Hair’ study, inspired by Shea Moisture, affirmed what many black women already knew: Natural hair can be a career liability. We spoke with several black women, who were eager to share the natural hair struggles they’ve faced in pursuit of a paycheck.
Latasha W., a marketing and communications professional in New York City, brought up the common unspoken rule among black women — ‘Straight hair for the interview, natural hair once you’re in the door.’ 10 years ago in Kentucky, she faced a lot of unkind comments when she first decided to begin wearing her hair natural, even from other black people who commented on the “unkempt status” of her hair. She says, “I now live in New York, and natural hair is definitely more common, but I still work in a white-collar culture. It had become my norm to straighten my hair for interviews and basically anywhere I felt I could be impacted by natural hair bias.”