Shevonn (thanks girl!) emailed me a response from she received Jim Himes after signing an online petition . You can find the petition here if anyone is interested. I’ve quoted it below:

It has come to my attention that the United States Air Force has a regulation, AFI36-2903 DRESS AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF AIR FORCE PERSONNEL, which in part, discriminates against African-American women serving in the Air Force. The code was recently updated to include a bans on a common natural African-American hairstyle, which the Air Force has called “dreadlocks”. Female personnel with neat, clean, professional well-kept hair are being forced to choose between cutting their hair and treating it with chemicals to conform with this regulation which I feel unfairly and unnecessarily discriminates against African-Americans. The regulation itself does not define “dreadlocks”. This leaves women with hair that is in no means a distraction or a detriment to their duties, subject to disciplinary action.

While it is certainly reasonable that the Air Force require its personnel to wear their hair in a neat and professional manner, blanket regulations against a loosely defined manner of wearing the hair is causing undue hardship on a number of women in the Air Force. There appears to be an ignorance of the needs of African-American hair and what can be done in the way of styling the hair without either cutting it off or subjecting the hair to chemicals. Wearing the hair in a “locked” style is the only way many African-American women can wear their hair, with any length, and without having to chemically treat it or wear a wig. As long as the styles are neat, professional looking, not distracting and not hindering their ability to perform their duty, there is no reason the Air Force should require women to change their hair styles. I think the code was fine before the addition of the ban on “dreadlocks” and the addition of that ban is unnecessary. The code already states that hairstyles cannot be “faddish” and must be professional. Locked hair is not necessarily faddish nor is it necessarily unprofessional.

I would like to request that you look into this regulation and ask the Air Force to reconsider the ban of neat, clean and professional hairstyles worn by African-American women.

The response:

Thank you for contacting me about the dress code of the United States Air Force. I appreciate your comments and am grateful that you took the time to contact me.

Men and women of every race who chose to join our armed forces must change some aspects of their physical appearance to conform to military standards.  With regards to hair, current regulations state that “hair style will be styled to present a professional appearance.”  While I do agree that it is appropriate for the Air Force to require its personnel to look professional as they represent the United States, I do not believe that this should be viewed as a form of discrimination.

Regulations allow for long hair (as long as it is secured), braids, micro-braids, cornrows and bangs.  It is true that dreadlocks are specifically prohibited, and should the House of Representatives investigate or modify this rule, I will be sure to keep your views in mind when voting.

If you have any additional questions regarding this or other issues, please do not hesitate to contact my office. You can sign up for my newsletter

http://himes.congressnewsletter.net/mail/util.cfm?mailaction=profile

and find more information on my views and my work in Congress by visiting my official website at www.house.gov/himes

<http://www.house.gov/himes> .

Sincerely,

http://himes.house.gov/images/user_images/HimesSig.jpg

Jim Himes

Member of Congress

After hearing “D”s story, I decided to delve deeper into natural hair in the military. There are obviously some biased people in power who, despite the clearly defined regulations in place,  continue to wage a nonexistent war against natural hair. Also unfortunate, these biased people seem to be mostly other African Americans.

Through YouTube, I found a woman in uniform with a beautiful TWA telling her experience of how she fought back against the negative comments she received. Here is Fadiah’s YouTube channel. After viewing her video (embedded below) I contacted her for an interview. She agreed to share her experience here and I hope someone out there benefits from it! Thank you, girl! I love your fro! I also admire you for not buckling under!

Kcurly: Were you natural going into the military?.

When I went to Basic Training in 2007, I was transitioning and I became discouraged because the drill sergeants picked on me about my hair and said I needed it relaxed for graduation, so I gave in because I wanted to graduate BCT. Then in 2008 I did my first BC, I once again I got discouraged by my peers and gave in. I was really upset with myself this time and decided to take charge, so August 3 2009 I did my second BC and now I refuse to let the army change my character and being true to myself as a natural.

Kcurly: Had you noticed any other naturals also in service?

I have noticed a lot of natural haired women in the military but they all keep it hidden with braids and weaves. Don’t get me wrong I do rock braids as a protective style when I’m doing field training or to let my hair breathe. (I’m not going to be ashamed of my natural hair in uniform like other females are). A lot of women commend me on my boldness in rocking my afro puff to work but don’t have enough courage themselves to do so as well. A lot of other women keep their hair low cut like a fade as well.

Kcurly: When did you BC and after how long of a transition?

My first BC was January 17, 2008 and I transitioned for four months. My second BC was August 3, 2009 and I did not transition.

Kcurly: What styles did you use to transition?

For my first BC while transitioning I wore kinky twists.

Kcurly: What negative things were said to you about your hair? Was there repeated harassment?

From friends I got the usual “why would you do that, you look better with relaxed hair.” comment. My fellow soldiers would say “are you going to do something with your hair” “as a female soldier you must look uniformed like the rest,” “since when did afros become acceptable in the army” “…hmm that’s different” and so forth.

Kcurly: What actions did you take to defend wearing your hair natural?

Being a junior ranking soldier I simply pulled out my army regulation 670-1 and explained that my hair is uniformed, it is not causing a distraction or over 5 inches in bulk, it is kept neat away from my face and off my collar. I would also elaborate that this is the texture of my hair and I was born with it and it was what God intended me to have and every black women in the military also has a different texture close to mine but they alter it with harsh chemicals to be like the European women.

Kcurly: What have you learned from this experience that you can take with you for the rest of your life?

Being natural has taught me to accept myself for who I am and to fight what I believe in life. I should allow other people to tell me what I should appear to be in their eyes because at the end of the day I have to make myself happy.

I joined the army in march 2009 and went to basic in May 2010. Its been almost a year ago. I  felt that I made a big mistake when it came to joining. I’m what you call a free thinker and I was natural before coming into the army I had a pretty a little uneven twa and I really loved it.

I couldn’t do much things with it but I loved wearing it freestyle out in the open the wind in my hair. I use to wear handbands and hair tye hairband and I loved it. When I went to basic training they told me I had to relax it or I wouldn’t go to basic traning and I wouldn’t graduate. I held on for a month  but gave up my pride and got the relaxer. I looked horrible.

I don’t like weaves and braids or any fake hair at all and thats what people been telling me to get the male sergents now its even worse they get the black female sergents on there side. I told my old drill sergents when I was in basic that I was going natural and she told me that we all have to be uniforum so I must get a perm thats the way of the army.

My hair is growing but everytime I look at old photo’s I start to cry it’s almost like I lost my self by joining. Even the females with short nhair are permed . I just don’t know what to do i like my job and working in the army it’s just people. my twa was beatiful sorry can’t stop thing about it it was hard to descrbe it was really thing kinda spongy and like deep spiral curls it grew up it was perfect. Well I was just wondering on any advice thank you in advance and sorry it was so long

D,

Thanks for the email and I’m sorry you’re going through this. This is a common issue among naturals and I’ve seen a lot on this on the hair forums. The truth of the matter, from what I have read and some contacts that I’ve made, is that you are supposed to be able to wear your natural hair.

Here are the guidelines, that I found:
Styles that are lopsided or distinctly unbalanced are prohibited. Ponytails, pigtails, or braids that are not secured to the head (allowing hair to hang freely), widely spaced individual hanging locks, and other extreme styles that protrude from the head are prohibited. Extensions, weaves, wigs, and hairpieces are authorized; however, these additions must have the same general appearance as the individual’s natural hair. Additionally, any wigs, extensions, hairpieces, or weaves must comply with the grooming policies set forth in this paragraph.

Females will ensure that hairstyles do not interfere with proper wear of military headgear and protective masks or equipment at any time. When headgear is worn, the hair will not extend below the bottom edge of the front of the headgear, nor will it extend below the bottom edge of the collar.

I find it interesting that the guidelines say that the weave must match the person’s natural texture. There must be a lot of rule breakers with a silky straight weave. Anyway…

I called three of my local recruitment offices and asked them all the same questions: Is it required that women relax their hair?  Are cornrows acceptable? They all replied that as long as it was off the collar and did not interfere with headgear that it was not a big deal.

I can understand that an afro might impede wearing a helmet. However, cornrows or coils seem to be a good idea as far as this is concerned. Please ask your drill sergeant about this and show them the regulations. I know you probably don’t want to rock the boat, but there are a lot of naturals in the army who have not had to relax their hair. And you shouldn’t have to either.  It’s absolutely ridiculous.

Having regulations in the military is important. It keeps people safe and it keeps the unit moving as a team. However, your superiors are obviously just biased against natural hair. Which is a shame, considering that you said that they are AA.

If you do not want to say anything or go to a higher up, why do they even have to know you’re going natural? I know you hate weaves, but sometimes the ends justify the means. Getting a weave might help you conceal that you’re going natural. Another option might be to closely crop your hair. As in a Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Afro, or a fade. But I know that may be a bit drastic for you.

I’m not a military girl, so I can’t suggest anything as far as fighting this properly. But I do know we have some ladies in the military who are readers. Perhaps they can chime.

I’m going to look into this more for you and hopefully update this.