During my school years, I’ll never forget the way that my hair, and the hair of my Black classmates, was so often scrutinised by teachers.

This was not because my hair was untidy – my mother would never allow that – it was because my hair was different. From braids and beads to twists or natural, my hair drew questions and the odd curious touch. Teachers would throw around the term ‘inappropriate’ a lot. The older I got, the more I realised this was just a codeword for ‘different’.

Throughout this time in my life, I had to constantly remind people that my hair was not there for them to pet or touch. And sadly, this experience is not unique to me. Despite the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) publishing extensive guidance for schools warning that they should not have uniform or appearance policies that ban certain hairstyles that are linked to a pupil’s race, the experience of other Black people at school shows a clear need for better education on different hair types, too. 

“During my school years, my peers would constantly ask to touch my hair,” says Amanda, 20, a journalist from Scotland, when recalling her experiences at a predominantly white secondary school in Fife. “I tried to assume that people were just curious and meant no malice, but it still felt a bit odd, especially when people would touch my hair without asking. I don’t mind enlightening others about my hair because most of the time people were just curious, but I did start to wonder why people couldn’t just google this. I don’t feel like I should have to be here to educate white people.”

It’s not just schools that are the problem. I’ve had colleagues in workplaces stare and ask questions about my hair, making me feel like an outsider. Despite discrimination against race being unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, hair texture is not explicitly named as a protected characteristic. This means subjective terms such as hair being ‘professional’ or ‘appropriate’ are often used as justification for discrimination or by way of insult.

It’s humiliating to be told that your hair somehow makes you less qualified to do a role or that it could impact how good you are at your job – and I’m not the only one who recognises that. To mark World Afro Day on 15 September, over 100 supporters signed an open letter to the UK government campaigning to make the UK the first Western nation with a law that protects people against hair discrimination. Numerous public figures, including Pauline Hamilton MP, Mel B and Beverley Knight, backed the campaign highlighting the need to protect afro hair across society.

It’s clear something needs to change in the UK. If you look to the US, many states have taken a step forward to end hair discrimination in the workplace. The Crown Act is a Californian law that prohibits discrimination based on hairstyle and hair texture. Since then, it has been adopted into 27 states (unfortunately, it has not yet passed through the senate to be enacted nationwide).

Given the positive steps being taken by other governments, what needs to be done to end discrimination against afro hair in the UK? Katiann Rocha, a campaigner with the Halo Collective (an alliance of organisations and individuals working to create a future without hair discrimination) tells Stylist that training and education, especially in the workplace, is the first step. “I think in recent years we have seen a huge increase and investment of funding into hiring DEI leads and the emergence of DEI as a core part of the workplace,” Rocha says. “Obviously, virtue signalling does exist, and the work needed to combat all kinds of discrimination in the workplace goes beyond just hiring someone. Those experiencing afro hair discrimination are all too often dismissed as being offended on a personal basis as ‘it’s just hair’ and are having their very real concerns misidentified.”

While training and better education are needed, there also needs to be a change in the law. The Halo Collective refers to this as ‘fixing up the law’ which, according to Rocha, “echoes and uplifts the work already being done by the Crown Act in the US and World Afro Day’s initiative to change the Equality Act to make hair discrimination unlawful”.

So, just what is needed to make meaningful change? Like so many things, it comes down to education and amends to the law. If we truly want a more equal society, hair discrimination should be made illegal – an employer, colleague or anyone else should not be able to decide how I wear my hair or be able to judge how ‘professional’ it is. Moreover, people also have a duty to educate themselves on hair types that are different to their own. Better education, accompanied with hair discrimination being made illegal, will start to offer people with afro hair the protection they deserve.

Images: Getty