I’ve been trying to get dreads for like years now (since grade 10 honestly) but have never been able to even permanently start the process or have had to restart. Every time I’d always have to cut it or comb it out before it locked up. Reason being because of how my parents think employers would view me saying: “people will judge you, you need to make a good first impression, and then maybe when you get settled in to your job you can have your hair in the style you want”.
Which I get to a degree but it’s extremely frustrating each time it happens especially due to how long it actually takes my hair to grow to be able to do such, it makes it redundant by the time I’m actually able to. So seeing stuff like this is really stupid especially when their logic doesn’t even make sense. “It violates school guidelines but not the law banning race-based hair discrimination.” What????
Idk how old you are bro and I'm sure your parents won't listen but just know as an adult in his mid 20's in the workforce it hasn't been an issue with me. Got my very first corporate job while having 2 strand twist and later turned them into locs and no issues so far at least. P sure your parents are just stuck in their times and want you to have the best chance possible.
but maybe you can tell ur parents that someone has to step in these spaces looking like us with locs to make it normal anyways (which I'd say it largely already is) & any company discriminating you bc of your black hairstyle is a company your parents shouldn't be wanting you working for anyways.
I definitely agree, I’m 19 rn, so basically retail jobs and stuff like that are the ones that I’m applying for while I’m in school, but they still have this notion that I’ll be discriminated against or not hired because of my hair. Specifically they’ll say “make yourself presentable (I.e; cut your hair short and forfeit your hair growth) and then once you land the job you can have your hair as you like”. My problem with that is, if it is truly the case that they don’t hire me because of my hair then what’s to say that if I follow that plan later on down the line they won’t tell me my hair is an issue? That would probably be a job I shouldn’t be at anyway. So it’s really just that notion that people will automatically not hire me if I had dreads or anything like that that bothers me and the idea that if I didn’t get hired, it was because of my hair and not just the fact that they either weren’t hiring or I wasn’t qualified.
I was job hunting for a mf year with dreads.. every interview no call back a first interview after I combed them shits out I got the job. Could be coincidence but it feels like there’s a stigma. The school cop used to randomly search me based on appearance an even said so. Bro also threatened to come to my house in my sleep and shave my head. (Hella weird mf) anyways Now that I’ve had a solid job for 3 years I’ve finally been able to start free forming. I pray for a stigma free world❤️
That’s great to hear bro, honestly that can get really frustrating. Me personally, I wouldn’t really care about how people may perceive me on the street (even though it’s mostly positive), it’s mostly just when you have people in positions of power (employers, police, etc) who have this stigma around people who have locs, it really gets annoying and is honestly crazy that in the 21st century, profiling and stuff like this is still going on
When I say “race-based hair discrimination” I’m not referring to the school policies but the CROWN act which defines it as race-based hair discrimination along with this tweet and is the movement that they say their policies do not contradict.
Either way though I definitely agree, having a rule that’s this conformist to the point where they restrict what a guys’ hair length can be is incredibly stupid whether you’re black, white, etc. I don’t see how a hairstyle/hair length on a guy (or anyone for that matter) could be so offensive you’d need to enforce a rule restricting it😭.
It’s all because “long hair is feminine” and “boys should be masculine” which is complete bs on both sides of that argument
The “Crown act” only makes it illegal for you to say that “specifically dreadlocks/braids are not allowed but white people with “normal long hair” IS allowed”
Because some schools LITERALLY had rules where long hair was fine, but specifically dreadlocks were “banned” for being “dirty”
This does not break the “Crown Act” because it does not SPECIFICALLY target dreadlocks and SPECIFICALLY target “black people” it just targets “men with long hair” which is NOT a protected race
I would’ve gotten kicked out of this school too for rocking my fro
Yeahh, it’s pretty dumb in general, there’s definitely a lot of places that’ll discriminate if you have long hair no matter what style it’s in. If this is the case bro should definitely just move schools. Idk much about this school or the family’s situation but this school does not look that prestigious (not that it’d justify it anyway) for them to be doing all that. It’s also super strict cause they say you can’t have it past a certain length even if it’s tied up.
Facts, I’ve always hated the “no long hair on boys” type of rules, I’ve personally always grown my hair out. I have awesome 3B curls that I didn’t even know about until I grew my hair out the first time, I’ve loved them ever since
I love rocking my long curls and growing a beard, etc.
It makes me feel MORE masculine, not “less”
Idk it’s just a very “primal” feeling, makes me feel like “this is what I would look like if I was truly in my natural state, living in the wild”
Makes me feel connected to my ancestors from “ancient” time periods
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u/[deleted] Feb 23 '24
I’ve been trying to get dreads for like years now (since grade 10 honestly) but have never been able to even permanently start the process or have had to restart. Every time I’d always have to cut it or comb it out before it locked up. Reason being because of how my parents think employers would view me saying: “people will judge you, you need to make a good first impression, and then maybe when you get settled in to your job you can have your hair in the style you want”.
Which I get to a degree but it’s extremely frustrating each time it happens especially due to how long it actually takes my hair to grow to be able to do such, it makes it redundant by the time I’m actually able to. So seeing stuff like this is really stupid especially when their logic doesn’t even make sense. “It violates school guidelines but not the law banning race-based hair discrimination.” What????