Coupled with the CROWN Act, it continues to galvanize a worldwide movement.
From a tender age, Black children are sometimes subjected to the pressures of envying silky-straight hair while their own natural curls and coils are deemed challenging and distracting. But as they grow older and move onward in academic and employment spaces today, protection from policies that prohibit them from living as themselves is, thankfully, becoming more central.
In the four years since its inception, The CROWN Act, America’s first piece of legislation to openly ban the discrimination of one’s natural hair texture or style has been passed in 24 states. And now, with the traction of the United Kingdom following suit, there’s even more to come.
Although race-based hair discrimination has been illegal in the UK since the Equalities Act became law in 2010, it continues to exist for Black people. The Halo Code, the UK’s latest step in eradicating hair discrimination, guarantees the freedom for Black individuals to wear their hair as they choose in school and in the workplace without restriction, prejudice or bigotry.
Officially launched in December 2020 by The Halo Collective — an alliance of organizations founded by young Black activists from The Advocacy Academy (a social justice movement dedicated to creating a more fair, just and equal society) — they’ve come together under the Halo Code to take the extra steps to formally and finally stomp out all racial bias against Black hair.
The code is typically signed by employers and schools (over 500 have endorsed it so far), which means they are committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure staff and students with naturally textured hair are protected. The certification also serves as a signal to Black people that their hair won’t impede school or work life in those spaces. Even London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has pledged to make City Hall a more inclusive environment for all members of staff.
According to The Halo Collective, 59% of Black students experience name-calling or uncomfortable questions about their hair at school, while 46% of parents say their children’s school policy punished their hair. Additionally, one in five Black women continue to feel societal pressure to straighten their hair for work, alarming statistics that underscore how movements like the Halo Code are long overdue.
The story of Ruby Williams is one of many horrific examples of the traumatic impacts of hair discrimination against children. Her self-confidence and sense of safety at school devastated when her hair started being policed at The Urswick School in east London in 2016. For two years, she was refused entry, isolated or sent home because the school had a policy which banned “big afro hairstyles.”
Ordered to change her hair to one consistent with the school’s uniform policy (it stated that hair must be of “reasonable size”); Ruby’s teachers said her hair was “getting too big” told her to “do something about that” and recommended she chemically straighten her hair. She and her family tried numerous hairstyles to follow the policy, but most were costly, time-consuming and damaging. Feeling completely humiliated and degraded, Ruby suffered from severe depression and anxiety as a result of it all. She was only 14 years old when the berating started.
And then there was 12-year-old Chikayzea Flanders, who, on his first day at the Fulham Boys School in Fulham, London, in 2017, was ordered to cut off his locs if he wanted to return to school the next day. Like Ruby, he, too was isolated from his classmates and was told his hair did not comply with the school’s uniform and appearance policy. Chikayzea’s locs are a fundamental principle of his Rastafarian faith which should have been exempt, but Fulham refused to acknowledge it. The harassment continued and Chikayzea left the school later that month, his family enrolling him at nearby Hurlingham Academy instead.
After threats of legal action from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Fulham “welcomed” Chikayzea to return, but only under the condition his locs were to be either tied up or covered with a colored cloth of the school’s choosing. Chikayzea’s family declined and he remained at Hurlingham Academy.
The Halo Code is powered by the lived experiences of every single member of the collective.
“When I was in grammar school in the UK, I saw less people that had my hair, so more people started questioning me like, why is it so big or why is it so messy?” shares Stephanie Cohen, co-founder of the organization (she is 24 years old), per an interview with The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Many of my friends are being told that they should straighten their hair for a job interview because they would be respected more, which is a pure example of hair discrimination. It’s a Westernized issue because it’s about favoring a particular culture over another.”
Along with the CROWN Act, Dove actively backs both organizations. Unilever, Dove’s parent company and one of the UK’s largest employers (they were the first to adopt the Code), is proving its ongoing commitment to diversity through research studies, short films and nationwide ad campaigns to raise awareness about hair discrimination and encourage healthy self-esteem in Black girls; inspiring news for a global beauty industry that still has a lot of work to do in the inclusion stakes.
A vital policy for the UK’s Black community, the Halo Code is also a meaningful step in the right direction, as it supports Black students and professionals to not only openly share experiences about their hair but also provide safe spaces for them to show up as they are.
“The expectations for Black hair are completely different [to those with other hair types], despite the Equality Act that was passed in 2010,” said Olamide Taiwo, a member of the Collective to British Vogue.
“There are unspoken, discriminatory rules against Black hair in workplaces and schools. Some of these rules are explicitly stated, while others are implied through actions and words. But I hope it will end hair discrimination in both workplaces and schools. I hope it will inspire both to become places where Black people across the country and the world can express themselves, through their hair, in whatever way they choose.”
Amen.
