CM

Age: 18-29

Occupation: College Student

From schools to workplaces, CM faced challenging experiences with her afro — but she still wears it comfortably, happily, and proudly.

The school she attended from grades six through twelve was a predominantly white all-girls’ day school, where sixth-grader CM was one of four black girls in the entire middle school. She struggled with handling microaggressions and ignorance from white students and faculty who were not familiar with afros.

“I got weird ‘why’ questions, people would walk up and touch it all the time, and it was too much for me to handle,” said CM. “‘Why isn’t my hair normal? Why do people think I’m not like them?’ I would ask my mom.”

After the sixth grade, CM slicked her hair back with hair gel every day to reduce undesired comments about her hair. Then, in high school, she decided to stop worrying about others’ opinions and wear her hair as she pleased.

“Originally, it was kind of like a rejection of the [school] ideals and what people thought was appropriate to fit in,” CM said. “But once I started wearing my hair out, I just felt so much more comfortable; I just kept doing it — I was just doing it for me at that point. I love my hair now.”

CM worked a ten-week internship this past summer where she did not wear her hair out in its afro until the eighth week, because she was familiar with the notion that afros are unprofessional. Her mother is a business executive and did not start wearing her hair in an afro until she was high up in the company. Thus, she decided that the afro was a “no go.”

By the eighth week, CM had grown more confident in her position in the workplace and decided to wear her hair out in an afro. She remembers, however, that during a previous summer internship with a liberal Black senator, she felt comfortable wearing her hair in an afro “all the time.” She was also out as a member of the LGBTQ+ identity. She attributes her comfort being herself and expressing herself to being in a professional space that champions diversity and inclusion.

“I felt the most comfortable when I knew it was safe for me to feel comfortable. In professional spaces, that means people should make actual efforts that people feel comfortable to express themselves in the way they want to,” CM said. “That needs to come from a higher up and not an assistant — making sure those values are instituted in business cultures.”

This summer, she will work for the Department of Justice. She is unsure if she will begin her job presenting a reserved version of herself or if she will express herself fully from the start.