Nappy myth #123,430,9549,843,945:

I can’t go natural because it’s not professional.

Well, millionaire Ursula Burns, a twa-rocking natural, is the CEO of Xerox.

Keep in mind that for the brief period that natural hair was the norm back in the day, it didn’t keep natural-haired women from getting jobs, and this was around the time when straightening kinky hair, in order to be accepted in the workplace, was fresher than it is now. If there was a better time to take that sort of “risk,” it would be now. With that being said, I feel that some women are just using the, “natural hair isn’t professional,” argument as an excuse to not go natural. If you don’t want to go natural, do you. No one can tell you how to wear your hair; but that reason is just flat-out played.

I remember my first job interview as a natural at a photography place. As a natural hair fanatic, I loved my hair even when others didn’t, and I already thought it was presentable. I wasn’t running around the room like a chicken with its head cut off trying to figure out how I was going to style my hair for “the man,” nor was I about to apply any heat or google up images that would show me the best way to pin my hair back in order to look like Ida B. Wells reincarnated. I simply rocked my twa. Clean, moisturized, and neatly shaped. I don’t see anything wrong with that.

My mother begged for me to straighten it. If I were as insecure at that point as I was in the past as a permie, it would have made me question as to whether or not I could handle being a natural. Instead, I just rolled my eyes, went off to the interview and got the job. Years after that, I was the same way at the next interview, and that’s how I’m going to continue to be. That’s the type of attitude that you need in order to be confident; when your own mother disapproves of your being set in your God-given texture, you just brush it off effortlessly and keep it moving.

Yes, there’s times where some naturals are given a hard time about their hair in the workplace, but if they’re a decent worker, it’s probably going to take more than a hairstyle to get them fired. As I’ve said before, not everyone is used to seeing our hair. However, the more women who go natural and stay natural, the easier it will be for others to catch onto it. If natural hair became the norm again (which I feel it would be soon), a woman going natural, more than likely will not have to worry about ways to make their hair “less offensive” for job interviews and the workplace. I’ll continue doing my small and easy part of staying natural and kudos to all the beauties who are doing the same.

Tags: professional, Ursula Burns, Xerox

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Professionals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.