So, the other day, I was at work, minding my own business and one of my Caucasian coworkers came up to me and said, “hey, did you know that up until about six months ago, you couldn’t work here if you had hair like yours — dreads, hahaha”. Now, first of all, I’m not sure what was so comical about the topic of “dreads” being banned within the workplace. But when my coworker uttered his statement to me and laughed, it kind of really offended me. I think it bothered me so much because it’s still completely absurd to me how a certain hairstyle can be dubbed “unprofessional” or “unkept”, to the point that it’s legally able for employers to discriminate against…. in 2020! As a current “loc goddess”, yes, that’s what I am, I think this needs to be done away with, immediately!! I say this for two reasons, with the first being, hair CANNOT be illegal; in no way, shape, or form does it make sense for hair to be deemed illegal. I mean… we literally all grow it. On the other hand, locs aren’t unprofessional, nor unkept, solely because they’re locs. Now, don’t get me wrong, some free-form locs, which are beautiful to me, can sometimes come across as looking “unkept” or “unprofessional”, I guess, but not all locs are. For instance, I keep up with my locs on a monthly basis. I’ve always gotten compliments on how I wear my hair and the many different elegant styles that I’m able to put them in sometimes, from curls, buns, colored locs to coily locs; not once have I ever heard somebody refer to my locs as “unkept” or “unprofessional” looking — not even by any Caucaisan people!
On the other hand, locs are my identity — my babies, if you will. When I started my locs in 2016 (pictured below), I cut off all of my hair and started over from scratch — yes, I even went through the “ugly phase”. My locs are my plants that I’ve spoken positively to, watered (oiled) and kept in the sun to be nourished, so they could grow and be healthy. My locs aren’t something that I would easily allow someone to strip me of, because if they did, I would be missing a huge part of me. I’d be just like those women/men with supreme court cases seeking out justice — because there’s just no way. Lastly, referring back to my co-workers terminology of my hair — dreads — is so cringe and humiliating to me, too. There is nothing “dreadful” about my hair or any other loc gods/goddesses hair. I wish this country, and the world in general, would educate themselves on different ethnic hairstyles, it could do us all a lot of well!
Me at the start of my loc journey (7/2016) 
Me with curly/crinkled locs (10/2020) 
Me with tightly coiled locs (12/2020)
Links of importance:
https://www.racked.com/2018/5/18/17366610/dreadlocks-ban-supreme-court-case-chastity-jones
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17242788/chastity-jones-dreadlock-job-discrimination
Unruly Bodies 
Wow. I cannot believe that your coworker had the audacity and insensitivity to say that to you. A few months ago, Montgomery County (which is where I had lived all my life until going to UMBC) passed a law that made it illegal to discriminate against people because of their hair, which is great, but it does raise other questions; does that mean that it is otherwise legal to discriminate against people because of their hair, for example? I think that you and your hair are lovely, and I commend you for writing about this topic.
Whew, you’re better than me because that comment would have been an AUTOMATIC report to HR!!!! Truly senseless that someone would even have the nerve to come out of their mouth with some ignorant doo doo dog shit like that, seriously. There’s absolutely nothing funny about having the hair that grows out your head banned in your place of employment, and like you said, so much of our identity is tied to our hair so it’s really dehumanizing when it’s deemed as “unkempt” and “unprofessional”. It’s racist comments like this that prove why having bans on Black hairstyles does nothing but continue to breed hate and is just there to prevent us from being equal active participants in the workforce. It’s giving…modern day racial segregation 🙂
Anyway, I love your locs and they are beautiful regardless of what anyone has to say otherwise!!!
I am not surprised this happened to you. It’s an experience many loc wearers experiences. Reading the first few sentences, my first reaction was, “WTF is so funny?” I was offended just reading it. I just wonder why the person felt the need to inform you of this. I started my locs 15 years ago, and I have been fortunate enough not to hear negative comments, but I contribute that to the resting bitch face I always have and the fact I work in environments that don’t have dress codes. I do have people question as to whether or not my hair is real or extensions. Why would someone need to know that? It’s absolutely mind-boggling why there would be a need for laws to pass concerning hair. This just goes back to the over-policing of black women’s bodies. Black women often change hairstyles to fit in or to be perceived as more professional.
I think one day, children in a history class will be puzzled by the ridiculousness of legislating hair!