Racial injustice can manifest in many different ways, but hair discrimination against Black Americans is often overlooked.

In 42 states across the US, the law doesn’t protect citizens from discrimination for how they choose to wear their hair or represent their heritage.

Following several high-profile cases of hair discrimination in the country, Dove, the organization Color Of Change, and the Western Center on Law and Poverty launched the Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act in 2019. The act outlaws discrimination on the basis of hairstyle choices predominately worn by Black people, including Afros, braids, curls, or locs.

Hair discrimination is not an issue that is commonly understood or addressed, Adjoa B. Asamoah, a legislative strategist for the CROWN Act, told Global Citizen.

“Racial discrimination in the form of hair discrimination is more prevalent than many people may think, and anti-Blackness is pervasive and not just in one state or even in the US,” she explained.

Narrow American beauty standards perpetuate the unfair treatment of Black and brown communities for wearing protective hairstyles in several settings, according to Esi Eggleston Bracey,  EVP and COO of North America Beauty and Personal Care at Unilever.

“In the past we've seen Black women losing opportunities for employment solely based on their hair,” Bracey, who is leading the CROWN Act effort, said in a statement released to Global Citizen. “We've also seen boys and girls being removed from their classrooms for the same reason.”

Workplace policies prohibiting natural hair disproportionately affect Black people and are “likely to deter Black applicants and burden or punish Black employees more than any other group,” according to the CROWN Act. Black women are twice as likely to feel pressure to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards to be taken seriously at work compared to white women and are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from the workplace because of their hairstyle. A 2020 study found that Black women with natural hairstyles are less likely to get interviews than white women or Black women with straightened hair.

Read the full article about hair discrimination by Leah Rodriguez at Global Citizen.