The standard in American society is set by white people. From the way people dress, to the way hair is styled, white people have defined what is normal for centuries. This is seen especially in the workplace. The way black hair is viewed as unprofessional illustrates the established scheme of normalcy, described by Davis in “Constructing Normalcy” and “How Natural Black Hair at Work Became a Civil Rights Issue”. These two pieces illustrate the idea of normalcy and how it affects minorities living under these standards.

When discussing the French Bougeriouse, Davis says, “ … the average then becomes paradoxically a kind of ideal, a position devoutly to be wished.” Davis describes the “average” as being synonymous with the “norm”. The more prevalent something is, the more desirable it becomes, which is why the average eventually becomes the ideal. This is seen in the way the Bougeriouse, or French middle class is described. The middle class was viewed as a “happy medium” to the two extremes of wealth and poverty. Being in the middle class was viewed as the most desirable because it had more variety in the jobs available to people. The idea of  prevalent qualities or characteristics becoming desirable that Davis presents is seen in numerous aspects of a person’s daily life, specifically a person of color. In the workplace, employees are expected to meet a certain level of professionalism, from the way a worker dresses, to how they do their hair. Because of these standards, certain hairstyles are deemed unprofessional in a workplace setting. This stamp of unprofessionalism is seen, mostly, when looking at African American hair. The prevalence of straight hair in America has tainted the view of the African American hair for years. This precedent has been set very clearly when, “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had filed a lawsuit against Catastrophe Management Solutions of Mobile, Alabama for rescinding a job offer to Chastity Jones because of her dreadlock hairstyle. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the EEOC lawsuit.” (nbc news) Black hair is viewed as messy and unkempt, and is rejected by the workplace because it defies the look established by its numerous white workers of having straight, sleek hair. Davis would agree that the norm established in the workplace has harmed the black community in that it has forced them to conform in order to be accepted in society. This is evident when he says, “…the ‘problem’ is not the person with disabilities; the problem is the way that normalcy is constructed to create the ‘problem’ of the disabled person.” Davis is saying that the standards placed upon people, in this case, black people, make them feel like they must conform because something is wrong with them. Here, Davis describes Normalcy as a force that forces people to contort themselves under its weight. 

Black hair in the workplace being looked at with a lens of unprofessionalism clearly illustrates the pressure that conforming to normalcy puts onto minorities. According to Daily Jstor.org, “The 1980s and 1990s ushered in more black women sporting pressed and permed hair, thanks to prevalent hair-care ads on TV and in magazines that encouraged black women to alter the texture of their hair.” Black people being in the minority meant that their hair was not viewed in the same way as straighter hair was. It was seen as an outlier, and it needed to conform to the match the styles of most people at the time. The norm for hair at the time was straight or loose curls. The naturally tight curled hair that African Americans possessed was ostracized because it went against the established norm. Black people, as a result, began to use methods to change the texture of their hair to obtain the more desirable straight hair. Black people have conformed to this standard of hair set by the majority because it is viewed as more attractive. Having straighter hair was seen as a sign of beauty in the eyes of many. “The end of the 19th century saw the invention of the hair-straightening comb, which would be used to “tame” black hair. Madam C.J. Walker, a black woman, popularized the comb…” The fact that a black woman created the invention that was used to change the texture of her own race’s hair illustrates the strong desire to adhere to the normal of straight hair within the black community. While there was pressure to conform to the norm, African Americans also genuinely believed that they would look better by doing away with their natural hair texture. This is also seen by the way the comb was described to “tame black hair”. The use of the word ‘tame’ implies that black hair is wild and uncontrollable, like a wild beast, which opposes the way straighter hair is viewed as neat and professional. Davis would respond to these continuous efforts to conform as unreasonable and futile because no one, not even the people who set the standard will ever be “ideal”. Davis says, “ … this ideal body is not attainable by a human… When ideal human bodies occur, they do so in mythology.” Davis takes the stance that the seeking of conformity is a journey that will never end because the standard will always try and move closer and closer to the unattainable ideal, forcing those that go against the norm to conform even more, endlessly. 

The desire to conform to this norm of straight hair also derives from the idea that straighter hair was attributed with more success and wealth. An article by Daily Jstor states, “Enslaved Africans who worked in the “big house,” however, sometimes mimicked the hairstyles of their enslavers, either by wearing wigs that had become popular during that era or shaping their kinky hair to emulate them.” The desire to conform to the majority is seen by the way slaves would change their hair to match that of the ones that enslaved them. The masters were in a position of power and wealth, so while the slaves did outnumber the slave masters, the slave masters were more prevalent in the fact that they possessed more wealth, control, and freedom. This set a precedent that wealth was synonymous with straight hair, and thus black people sought to achieve this standard. The social norm of the wealthy having straighter hair was further supported by the fact that a black person’s natural hair was a symbol of their belonging to the lowest rung on the social ladder: the slave class. This idea is evident in the fact that, “… free Creole women of color donned elaborate hairstyles that displayed their kinks and coils with an air of regality, the city implemented laws—the Tignon Laws—that required these women to wear a tignon (scarf or handkerchief) over their hair to signify that they were members of the slave class…” (Daily Jstor) The fact that black hair was used as a tool to designated one to a low social status, made having black hair undesirable, and as such, turned black people to seek to comply with the status quo of having straighter hair in order to raise their perceived social standing in the eyes of others. 

Davis and the way he describes normalcy and its oppression of disabled bodies directly relates to the way in which black hair is perceived negatively because of its obvious differences to the norm established. Davis’ view of the way normalcy is constructed and used as a means to force people to conform is all throughout the workplace when observing black hair. 

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.