Natural Black Hair not Glamorous?
September 2nd, 2007 Kimberly Michelle · 20 Comments
Perhaps you’ve already read about this story, but I’m playing catch up on the blogosphere. So apparently some people still just don’t understand the ignorance that comes out of their mouths. Read on.
Cleary Gottlieb has a bad hair day - Talk about a Glamour don’t.
Vivia Chen The American LawyerAugust 27, 2007
It seemed like a nice frothy summer treat for some hardworking gals at a hard-driving law firm . . . the women lawyers group at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton invited an editor from Glamour magazine. The topic: the dos and don’ts of corporate fashion.
First slide up: an African-American woman sporting an Afro. A real no-no, announced the Glamour editor to the 40 or so lawyers in the room. As for dreadlocks: How truly dreadful! The style maven said it was “shocking” that some people still think it “appropriate” to wear those hairstyles at the office. “No offense,” she sniffed, but those “political” hairstyles really have to go.
By the time the lights flicked back on, some Cleary lawyers — particularly the 10 or so African-American women in attendance — were in a state of disbelief. “It was like she was saying you shouldn’t go out with your natural hair, and if you do, you’re making a political statement,” says one African-American associate. “It showed a general cluelessness about black women and their hair.”
The episode also produced a “mixed reaction” along racial lines, says this associate. “Some [whites] didn’t understand what the big deal was … but all the black associates saw the controversy.”
Cleary Gottlieb’s managing partner, Mark Walker, who heard about the incident from some of the attendees, also saw trouble. Soon after the event, Walker issued an e-mail that denounced the hair commentary as “racially insensitive, inappropriate, and wrong.” Calling the beauty advice “appalling,” Walker says, “You don’t tell people that their physical appearance is unacceptable, when certain characteristics are associated with a racial group.” He asks, “What’s the alternative? Straighten or bleach your hair?”
As for the identity of the editor, neither Cleary Gottlieb nor Condé Nast Publications Inc. (publisher of Glamour) would say. Indeed, almost all of the half-dozen Glamour editors contacted for this story professed not to have ever set foot in a law firm. “Cleary what?” asked several.
And Walker says he has no idea whether the editor who sparked all this controversy is a well-known fashionista. Not that Walker would know, even if Anna Wintour herself crossed his path. “Who is she?” Walker asks. “I really don’t know people in the fashion industry.” (If you have to ask, she’s the editor of Vogue.)
So did the Glamour editor realize how many feathers she ruffled? Walker says that the speaker was “spoken to by one of the women partners” and that she sent an e-mail apology. “I assume she was oblivious; I doubt she’s racist,” says Walker. “She wasn’t thinking and said something hare-brained.”
Or is that hair-brained?
Bloggers Fan the Fury Over Hairstyle Advice to Cleary’s African-American Lawyers
Vivia Chen The American Lawyer August 27, 2007
Geeky Wall Street law firms don’t usually make the style pages. But Cleary Gottlieb has become a fixture on at least a dozen hipster blogs — including gawker.com and jezebel.com — in recent weeks.
As reported in the August issue of The American Lawyer, sparks flew after a Glamour magazine beauty editor spoke at the firm’s women’s luncheon this summer. The editor’s edict that black lawyers avoid Afros and dreadlocks infuriated the firm’s African-American lawyers.
Judging by the traffic on the blogs, that fury has spilled well beyond the halls of Cleary Gottlieb. One reason for the strong reaction is that the issue of hair style has long been a hot button topic for African-American professional women. “Whether you let your hair go natural or straighten is a very touchy subject,” says one black female partner at a New York firm.
Though Cleary hosted the event, Glamour is getting most of the heat. “I’ll never buy Glamour again,” was a typical refrain in the blogs. Not surprisingly, Glamour is engaged in damage control. In an e-mail statement to The American Lawyer, the fashion magazine repudiated the beauty advice, and characterized the editor as a “junior staffer” who spoke “without her supervisor’s knowledge or approval.” Moreover, the statement said that Glamour has a “longstanding commitment to inclusion and diversity.”
Many of the blog commentators, however, think that the fashion community could learn some style points from big law firms. Wrote one blogger: “I suspect that the Glamour editor had no freakin’ idea that law firms are far more accepting places these days than the mainstream fashion world.”
Law firms cooler than the fashion world? Imagine that.
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20 responses so far ↓
1 BronzeTrinity // Sep 2, 2007 at 4:53 pm
Thanks for summarizing all this. I like the photo you put up. The woman has natural hair and it looks very professional to me. I wonder if in the editor’s mind she imagines huge afros or dreadlocks down to the floor like a reggae artist or something. There are many ways to wear these styles and look professional or you can look like a rock star or revolutionary. I don’t think the editor had enough exposure or knowledge to be speaking of such things. She has obviously never seen a professional person with one of the styles she was criticizing. I don’t think she has any right to speak about another ethnicity’s natural attributes. That would be like a Black editor going to White lawyers and saying pale skin, thin lips, and blond hair is unacceptable so you must tan, get collagen injections, and dye your hair black. She was saying that you can not be natural and that being natural for Black women is unacceptable but White women can be natural. Like the “professional norm” is to look White.
See crap like this is why I’m conflicted over having my hair relaxed. I find it easier and cheaper to relax it than braid it. My hair is long so if I want it natural I would have to cut it (I tried letting it go natural at my length and I ended up with a huge tangle of knots). If I got dreads then I couldn’t change my mind later. I have had relaxed hair since I was a child so I don’t even know how to take care of my natural hair. But then I think its women like me who make non-Black people think that its “the norm” for Black women to have relaxed hair and its no big deal. When I buy hair magazines all they styles are relaxed hair or weaves. I can’t even find a magazine to help me go natural!
I also decided last year that I wasn’t going to buy magazines like Cosmo or glamour anymore because there are only the occasional images of people who look like me and information beauty information that would apply to someone like me. I had also read research in the past that showed reading fashion and beauty magazines tends to make women feel overweight and ugly even when they are not.
So I think that I will only buy Black magazines and visit Black fashion and beauty blogs.
2 Kimberly Michelle // Sep 2, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Thanks for your comment. I decided to go natural when I was in college, after 9 years of having a relaxer. I don’t know how long your hair is, but mine was a little past my shoulders and it grew out fine. The most important thing is to keep going to the hairdresser. I mostly straighten it to make it easier to comb and manage. But braids and locks are definitely not the only way to wear natural hair. I encourage you to give the natural look a try. And I agree with you about how narrow minded this white girl was. I try not to place any importance on what other people think (especially when it’s founded on ignorance), but I know many professionals and lawyers feel pressure to look and dress a certain way because of their livelihood.
3 taeAmin // Sep 2, 2007 at 11:36 pm
I am also natural and have been for three years. Its a love hate relationship, mostly for the fact that I have had relaxed hair all my life and I am just now learning how to take care of my hair in a natural state.
I didn’t really think too hard about going natural because I know that in my field, people don’t really get caught up in how I look at work. But for alot of my friends who decided to go natural, corporate America was a big concern. I would tell them not to get caught up in the hair thing because 1) to not get a job or to lose a job based on your hair goes against so many HR laws its not even funny and 2) wearing your hair natural is no more of a statement that a white woman wearing her hair straight to work.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the issue, but i feel that corporate America is already a complicated game, there’s no reason to lose your natural you because of ignorance.
4 Ru // Sep 3, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I just left Corp. America to go back to school for art.
I have a marketing degree but I am the creative type..So when I got a job in accounting for an oil and gas company i noticed that i would get attention or looks on account of my hair. even though it was a laid back office where jeans were acceptable for what I did because I sat a comp all day. I have curly hair and would sometimes blow it out and do little things to break up the monotony. But I always looked presentable. We had women in my group that dressed like it was the club complete with eff me heels and tight tops and skirts..But I would get looks and weird questions about my hair from the white people.
the *wow..look at your hair Ru” and they would try and touch it (get your hands out of my face and head!!!) or while I was getting my coffee this one guy who I suspected didn’t have too many friends of other races said I looked like tracy chapman..and asked me if I knew who that was.
I have discovered that looking the way i look and being a black woman of mixed race when white corp america cant put you in a box to label you..things get downright rude to the questions about your hair to if i am the darkest member of my family. And i have had enough of it and i dont miss corp america not one bit with this article!
5 LT // Sep 4, 2007 at 11:27 am
I work in corporate ameria, in a less than diverse atmosphere. My natural hair is a lot like the curly “Diana Ross” afro, but I regularly straighten it with a blow dryer to keep it managable. I do find that on the days I have washed it or the humidity is a little high, the big hair with curls often sparks comments from my white co-workers like “What happened to your hair?, Didn’t you comb it this morning?”
I find it depressing and disappointing that I can only be considered presentable if I work four hours to make my hair pin straight like the other office blondes or brunettes.
Wearing my natural hair to work often feels like I have worn a shirt that is too low cut or tight, which sadly enough gets less funny looks and thoughtless comments than a well managed afro.
6 Kay // Sep 4, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I’ve been natural for about 5 years now. Luckily, I live in Los Angeles so I don’t get weird looks because everyone here is pretty “off the beaten path”. Idid find it hard, though, because as BronzeTrinity said, there isn’t much help in the way of magazines, so I had to figure it out on my own. Here’s what I found works:
I only comb all the way through my hair when it’s dripping wet and covered with conditioner. That means washing in the shower because the sink is too complicated.
After patting dry, I section it and cover it with some sort of cream for moisture (Parnevu is good because it’s light weight and doesn’t turn white on wet hair), followed by a gel for hold. Leave it down and let it air dry (you can’t put wet hair “up” because it won’t dry and it can grow mildew - not going into detail about how I learned that one).
On days that it’s not being washed, I spritz with infusium23 mixed with water so it’s not so thick. Then rearrange the curls and style. Usually with a clip or something because it’s really bushy when I leave it down.
Also, the first year is just for experimenting. It takes about that long to figure out what y0ur hari will and won’t do, and how to prepare it wet in order to get the look you want when it’s dry (assuming you air-dry. If you’re blow-drying, you obviously have more control).
That’s what worked for me. I know everyone is different, but hopefully if those of us who have gone natural talk about our experiences, it will help others, so I threw my two cents in.
7 S // Sep 4, 2007 at 6:42 pm
I have a natural hairstle, I love it. I am going to work for a corporation too. Everyone has said they like it, and it is very neat looking. It’s not an afro- or “locks” it’s twists! Nobody should have a problem with neat nice hair.
8 Sheila // Sep 4, 2007 at 6:57 pm
I’m just old enough (or should I say “seasoned”) to remember when natural hair was undoubtedly a political statement. It seems that today it’s an aesthetic or “fashion” choice. Does anyone think Mary J. Blige is any less black because she’s been blonded (my term for bleached blonde hair on any woman, regardless of race) for years? Was Shirley Chisholm less black because she straightened her hair? Where does Anna Deveare Smith fit in this scheme?
I started transitioning from relaxed to natural hair 2 years ago when I grew tired of fighting a losing and expensive battle with summer heat and humidity. Like many of you, I hadn’t seen my hair in its natural state since I was 15 or 16. It’s been interesting and aesthetically enlightening to re-discover what’s up there. I usually wear it in a tucked-under pony or a chignon. When I do where it out/down my colleagues–all white and all women–are complimentary. And no one has invaded my personal space by trying to touch it!
Clearly, in matters of race it’s two steps forward–I mean at least there are black women lawyers at Cleary Gottlieb–and one step back, vide the editor from Vogue and the attitude her remarks embodied.
But look, fashion editors are not known for their tact or social vision. (Trust me on this, I used to work be in the business.) The reaction of the law firm’s managing partner is probably more representative.
And finally, you can find information on natural hair care and styling at http://www.nappturality.com and other web sites. The webmistress is something of a strict constructionist in the matter of what is and isn’t appropriate/good for natural hair, but since her own hair is gorgeous, it’s hard to argue with her.
9 gett out of my grill // Sep 5, 2007 at 9:05 pm
I was thinking of getting locs, which are natural..
Natural hairstyles can look pretty depending on your hair grade. Not everyone should be styling an afro in my opinion.. the same as everyone shouldn’t be wearing extensions either..
I guess how your hairstyle is percieved depends on your workplace enviroment.
10 Kimberly Michelle // Sep 7, 2007 at 6:40 pm
[Email from Glamour]
Subject: A Note From Glamour
Message: I read your post about a Glamour editor’s comments on
hairstyles for work, and I’d like to share with you our thoughts.
First, we regret the comments were made. The employee (not a beauty
editor) spoke to a small group of lawyers at a private luncheon
without her supervisor’s knowledge or approval, and her comment —
that Afros are not work appropriate — does not represent Glamour’s
point of view.
Secondly, immediately upon learning of it, we sought to rectify the
situation. The editor has been dealt with in a very serious manner,
and the entire staff has been reminded of the magazine’s policies
and procedures for making public appearances.
Glamour is proud of its diverse readership and celebrates the beauty
of ALL women. We have responded directly and openly with readers to
assure them of this fact. We have also apologized to the law firm,
and we extend the same apology to you.
Cindi Leive,
Editor-in-Chief of Glamour
11 BronzeTrinity // Sep 8, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I do appreciate their response above and I think I believe them. I don’t think a company with any sense would prepare a talk like that and I don’t think they are supportive of the comments now. It doesn’t sound like they are trying to support what the presenter said. But I still stand by my pledge to no longer buy fashion or beauty magazines that are not entirely dedicated to Black women. There is no point. Why spend all that money for only a few photos and maybe a few pages that would actually be applicable to Black women when I can get an entire magazine full of stuff just for me. Its a better way to spend money. Thats why its a shame that Vibe Vixen went under because we need more magazines like that.
12 Sylvia // Sep 8, 2007 at 9:32 pm
I just get a curly weave… its the closest thing to natural and i dont have to fight with it every morning. At 66 I am also gray and its an ugly gray. I wish it was a pattern gray or all silver or I would wear it, but its not. I love that short twisted look, but you have to look like hell too long before it gets right! If you think I just dont dont want to be bothered with my hair, you guessed it, I dont!
13 Nadsnanymous // Nov 13, 2007 at 4:19 pm
“…I was getting my coffee this one guy who I suspected didn’t have too many friends of other races said I looked like tracy chapman..and asked me if I knew who that was.”
oh my, that’s one have NOT heard. I’m in tears laughing so hard. I’ve gotten Brandy and Tyra as well as others who look nothing alike nor nothing like me - but Chapman is just funnier.
That said I probably would have smacked somebody.
14 Natural Black Hair Don’ts « The Social Watch // Nov 17, 2007 at 10:46 pm
[...] After Baker’s comments quickly spread over the Internet, and numerous Glamour readers sent letters to the magazine expressing their concern, Cindi Leive, editor, posted a response letter online. During the course of [Baker’s] talk, she commented to the audience that Afros were “a Glamour Don’t” women in the group, several of them African American, immediately objected to her words, offended at the idea that their natural hair was being termed inappropriate. [...]
15 blackkat // Dec 29, 2007 at 2:56 am
Bronzetrinity, I know and apologize that this is so late in the game, but I felt sad about your hair story. Please learn how to take care of your natural hair. Even if you keep relaxing it, learn how to care and nourish it. Poor hair maintenance PLUS relaxing are never a good match—I see some really, really damaged heads down here. A lot of them are my friends, coworkers and relatives and like you have simply never known how to take care of their hair, whether in its natural state or relaxed. They only know that it ‘must’ be kept straight and ‘long’ to the fullest of their ability, i.e., getting retouches too soon with bad products, bad weaves, and never cutting off beat-up, damaged ends. Yet a lot of them will turn their noses up at a Natural sister wearing a small, neat afro or a nice neat set of locs or some other non-relaxed hairstyle. It all makes me very sad.
Two good websites that will help you discover your exact curl type and the subsequent products/routines you need to nourish it are…..naturallycurly.com and blackhairmedia.com. Also, I learned about washing the hair with conditioner (not shampoo)at the naturallycurly website…that’s another really good tip. Kay’s tips are excellent also…I do the same things with my hair. And I can’t emphasize the joys of using olive oil (the kind you look with) under a plastic cap after washing your hair. I wish you well on your hair journey
16 blackkat // Dec 29, 2007 at 3:08 am
…a bit of editing to the above comment…I meant, the kind of olive oil you COOK with, not ‘look’ with LOL. It makes your hair really, really soft.
My baby is only 3 and already I have people asking when she’ll be getting her relaxer because “what am I gonna do when she gets in school?” To which I reply….’um, fix her hair everyday, being as that’s what my mom did with us?’ It breaks my heart to see 2 year olds with waist-length weaves or thinning, damaged relaxed hair. It’s like we the only race on earth that ‘can’t’ wear the hair texture we were born with. I get so sick of it. Like Black folks are born with relaxers or something. I’ll never buy Glamour again.
17 Diane // Mar 3, 2008 at 6:03 am
I think that the new front lace wigs are a blessing in disguise for a lot of women with damaged, unmanagable hair.
Especially if they want to move away from chemical treatments and hot tools that burn the hair.
Have a look at our website for more information on this new wig system.
http://www.eloquent-hair.co.uk/index.cfm?sid=7103&pid=108963&item=36237
18 Ghanja // Apr 11, 2008 at 2:01 am
I wear my hair natural because I am proud of who I am. I will not allow anyone to take that away from me, its so sad to see so many young women trying to fit into the mold of bleach blonde 100lb as being the only beautiful stereotype…Its so sad and its a prevailing misconception around the globe…Things will only change from the inside out
I call for all women to be who they are NATURALLY regardless of ethnicity.
19 No Bad Hair Days // Apr 13, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I am an attorney originally from L.A. now working as in-house counsel at a real estate company in the deep south, after having spent several years in the legal department at a major media company. At my previous job I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and lost my long, traditional looking relaxed hair during chemotherapy over 7 years ago. As I recovered I told God that I’d embrace whatever hair that grew back on my head. After that experience, no day is a bad hair day. I grew back a thick, full, head of big kinky/curly hair, now gently texturized every few months. As it began to grow back, I vowed to embrace it and to simply let my colleagues accept it or just get over it. They did just that. Having watched my treatment, wig-wearing, survival saga from the start, I suspect many of them actually viewed my new hair as I did - a symbol of survival and a blessing, as opposed to any indicator of professionalism. If they did not, they kept it entirely to themselves.
Since them I was hired for my current position in a very conservative part of the country wearing this distinctly African-Am look over 4 years ago. I get the occasional “oh, your hair looks so professtional” on the rare times when I wear it up in the summer, as if professionalism is something that could simply be donned with a hairstyle. It reminds me of one of the most “professional” moments of my career, during a phone comversation with a colleague tv producer I’d never met. I calmly explained that I would certainly honor her request to obtain legal clearances for a film clip depicting a famous vaudeville peformer in black face for a top-rated nightly cable talk show on one of our networks, but that as an African-Am (which she was surely shocked to discover ) such images were personally deeply repugnant to me, as I speculated that they would be to many viewers. I don’t recall how I had styled my hair that day.
To you, sisters, I say consider the circumstances of your work environement then nudge, even push the enevlope if you are inclined to. Hopefully you’ll find those boundaries are more fluid than they appear at first glance.
20 Abby // May 14, 2008 at 11:40 am
I am a 25 year old black woman who recently cut offmy damaged relaxed hair to be natural and give my hair a 2nd chance being its true self. I have haeard about some controversy in corp amer. with “ethnic hairstles”. Which truly makes no sense bcuz if there were no relaxers/ texurizers thats who we would be natural just like out fellow female counterparts. I truly hope that people would learn to accept those of us who choose 2 be natural and wear or grow our natural hair. And besided as long as u r clean well groomed u should be fine in any profession. For those sisters with natural hair I know a great detangler/ leave in cond to help manage our hair . growafrohairlong.com . Im sure there r others but this workd well to help give us confidence and a well groomed profesional or neat look.
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