Black Hair Is Professional: Why Dove Is Fighting Race-Based Hair Discrimination

Among the onslaught of prejudice that Black women and men face in the workplace, one of the most insidious and persistent forms of that bias revolves around hair. In particular, natural styles are looked down upon and women find themselves pressured to spend money to conform to white hair norms, essentially creating a tax on existing as a Black professional woman.

Dove has launched a new campaign in partnership with Linkedin, and devised by Ogilvy, to fight workplace race-based hair discrimination. Dove has been committed to supporting the passage of the Crown Act across the USA, which makes such discrimination illegal. While some progress has been made in some states, it has not been adopted across the country.

#BlackHairIsProfessional builds on Dove's efforts to pass The CROWN Act and end race-based hair discrimination nationwide. Now the brand has teamed up with LinkedIn to address systemic problems in the workplace – from hiring practices to daily workplace interactions – that disproportionately impact Black women's employment opportunities and professional advancement. They co-commissioned the new CROWN 2023 Workplace Research Study which found that Black women's hair is 2.5x more likely to be perceived as unprofessional.

"For far too long, Black women and men have been subject to unfair treatment, outright discrimination and a myriad of inequities for simply wearing our natural hair texture and hair styles that are inherent to our cultural identity. This includes being denied employment, being sent home from work, being overlooked for promotions, and a range of micro-aggressions. This may be hard to believe, but it is real, clearly unwarranted, and unacceptable," says Esi Eggleston Bracey, president and CEO of Unilever Personal Care in North America. "The goal of the partnership between Dove and LinkedIn is to help put an end to race-based hair discrimination in the workplace. We intend to shine a light on this issue and call upon employers, hiring managers, and professionals to adopt equitable and inclusive practices that create a respectful and open world for natural hair."

The campaign highlights the double standard faced by Black women. In it, bold images juxtapose beautiful natural hair styles with the straightened styles women are pressured to conform to.

According to Kristie Pope, executive creative director, Ogilvy DC, the idea was to create something that could make the point visually and succinctly: “With the #BlackHairIsProfessional campaign we wanted to put a spotlight on the impact hair discrimination has, while elevating and celebrating the real stories and voices of Black women professionals,” says Kristie. “We used bold photography and a split effect that captures two photos of the same woman: one with her natural hair and the other with ‘socially acceptable’ hair – a picture is worth 1000 words. The direct-to-camera eye contact creates a sense of regal confidence and urgency while the provocative headlines help anyone instantly understand the experience of hair discrimination. While the topic of hair discrimination is very serious, we wanted the imagery itself to be celebratory. Black natural hair and Black women deserve to be celebrated, protected, and respected."

The seriousness of the topic is underlined by the findings in the Crown 2023 Workplace Research Study. The findings show that hair discrimination impacts women before they even get a new job, and informs how Black women navigate the hiring process.

For example Approximately 2/3 of Black women (66%) change their hair for a job interview. Among them, 41% changed their hair from curly to straight. Moreover, Black women are 54% more likely (or over 1.5x more likely) to feel like they have to wear their hair straight to a job interview to be successful.

Once in the workplace, hair discrimination has led Black women to have a negative experience or outcomes within the workplace. Black women with coily/textured hair are 2x as likely to experience microaggressions in the workplace than Black women with straighter hair.

Shockingly oer 20% of Black women 25-34 have been sent home from work because of their hair.

Young Black professionals are feeling the pressure from hair discrimination the most, with nearly half (44%) of Black women under age 34 feel pressured to have a headshot with straight hair.

25% of Black women believe they have been denied a job interview because of their hair, which is even higher for women under 34.

Dove has also partnered with Linkedin to help end hair discrimination in the workplace. Linkedin will be providing free access to ten LinkedIn Learning courses focused on creating a more equitable and inclusive work environment, with a goal to educate one million hiring managers and workplace professionals by the end of 2023. They’ll also share the real impact of hair discrimination on Black women in the workplace through the CROWN 2023 Workplace Research Study, and are committing to elevate and celebrate the real stories and voices of Black women professionals across LinkedIn and social media platforms using #BlackHairIsProfessional to help redefine what society deems 'professional' at work.

“While talent is equally distributed, opportunity is not. Cultural identifiers, like hair, are not determining factors for someone's skills or experience, and no one should be denied employment opportunities or professional advancement because of their hair," says Rosanna Durruthy, Global Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at LinkedIn. "As Dove works to change legislation, LinkedIn is working to change workplace behavior by training and educating one million hiring managers and human resources professionals on inclusive and equitable business practices. The mission of ending race-based hair discrimination is critically important to our own desire to make work, work better for everyone."

Dove will continue to drive awareness of The CROWN Act across platforms, encourage petition signatures, and support the passing of The CROWN Act to help end race-based hair discrimination nationwide.

Dove co-founded the CROWN Coalition in 2019 alongside non-profits including the National Urban League, Color of Change, and Western Center on Law and Poverty to advance anti-hair discrimination legislation and create a more equitable and inclusive beauty experience for Black women and girls. Since then, the CROWN Coalition has grown to an alliance of more than 100 organizations that work together to pass the CROWN Act.