Women with afro hair in the Dove hair-discrimination campaign
(Picture: Dove)Almost half of black or mixed-race women with afro hair have experienced race-based hair discrimination at school, new research from Dove has revealed.
Of these, more than half have been left with long-lasting trauma that they are still dealing with today.
Experiences of race-based hair discrimination can start as early as five years old, impacting important childhood milestones, such as school picture day.
To coincide with UK Black History Month, Dove has launched Reclaiming School Picture Day, a campaign that aims to raise awareness of the issue.
The project sees black and mixed-race women recreate their school photos with their natural hair, after research found that almost a third of black women concerned about their hair missed out on school picture day.
Sharing her story as part of the campaign, author and social-media influencer Stephanie Yeboah said: “When I was younger, my head of school forced everyone to shave their afros off because they deemed them unkempt, unruly, and not smart-looking.
“When it came to school picture days, I used to try and chemically straighten my hair to try and fit in with the Eurocentric ideals of beauty at the time.
“It’s taken me some time to get there but, since then, I now embrace my afro and wear it unapologetically.”
Dove’s research found that 84 per cent of black and mixed-race women felt the need to alter their natural hairstyle for school.
While the 2010 Equality Act – the metric by which discrimination is measured – includes race as a “protected characteristic”, there is no mention of hair in the document, which has created a grey area in schools and workplaces.
There have been a number of high-profile cases of race-based hair discrimination in the UK.
In 2020, a schoolgirl won £8,500 in an out-of-court settlement against a secondary school in east London after she was repeatedly sent home because of her hair. The school’s written uniform policy stated that “afro-style hair must be of reasonable size and length”. After the legal action, the policy was removed.
Since 2020, schools in the UK have been able to sign up to the Halo Code, which pledges to end discrimination against black hairstyles.
Emma Dabiri, activist and author of Don’t Touch My Hair, said: “I think we still have a long way to go when it comes to understanding black hair, how it grows, and the significance of its difference when compared to European hair textures.
“These differences can result in varying styling practices and techniques for Black or mixed-heritage students, and it’s important for teachers and those in positions of power to be aware of this, so those pupils aren’t penalised for how they wear their hair.
“This is why I’ve been campaigning to amend the UK Equality Act to explicitly protect afro and textured hair, to put an end to race-based hair discrimination in schools.”
