On February 10th, 2017, the US Army removed the ban on locs, braids, and twists that was put in place in late 2015. While it is great that Black women in the Army can now wear their hair in styles that require less maintenance and are less likely to damage their hair, what about those who gave up their hair when the ban was instated? Will apologies be made to those who had to surrender the hairstyles that allowed them to worry less about their hair and more about the jobs they have protecting and serving the United States?
Many people are happy about the lifting of this ban but it shouldn’t have been made in the first place.
Letting people wear their hair how they want is only common decency, so there is no cause for the celebration of the rights people should have regardless of where they work, live, or school.
We also often forget that many people express their spirituality/religious beliefs through their hair, as is their right, so rejecting certain forms of hair ends up being more hurtful than “just wanting them to look a certain way” because it invalidates their right to practice their beliefs as they please.
Alongside this, non-Black people often do not realize how difficult it can be maintaining hairstyles based on the manipulation of our natural hair. Locs and braids ease this process by giving us methods of keeping our hair manageable when we do not have a lot of time and/or money to put into our hair care. By deeming these and other natural hairstyles “inappropriate” for certain environments, the upkeep of our hair and our self-esteem can take a negative turn. Some Black people decide to relax their hair with chemicals or do other harmful things to it just to pass as acceptable in environments they cannot help but be in. Other than this, telling Black children that their hair isn’t allowed in school or other places causes them to believe that there is something wrong with their hair when there isn’t.
Hopefully, this decision to accept Black natural hair will occur in other places of work, education, and such too because it is an unofficial rule in many places that Black hairstyles are “unprofessional” and “messy”. A search on Google will show you just how prominent this view is because almost none of the hairstyles that pop up are hairstyles specific to Black women. Instead, you are shown picture after picture of women with Type 1 or 2 hair worn down or in ponytails, buns, or braids that are not easily achieved by Black naturals with Type 3 or 4 hair without manipulation.
All of this shows that it is clear that outdated standards of beauty still reign throughout the various areas of society even though all hair is beautiful. It also shows that the stigmas around the various forms of natural hair must be removed for us to continue progressing towards equality. Until we recognize that beauty comes in all shapes and forms, we will continue to harm those who do not fit the status quo.
