2X Bestselling Author/Writing Coach | Keynote Speaker | Neurodivergent - ADHD Diagnosis | Bipolar Disorder | Epileptic | 🩷💜💙 | #BLM ✊🏽 | Vegan 🌱 | 🇵🇸 🍉 | Seen in NYTimes, Forbes & TIME | SXSW 2024 Panelist | ΔΣΘ
I was five years old the first time my mother straightened my hair with a metal straightening comb. I can vividly recall the sound of the sizzling hot comb, as it rested on the stove. The warmth on the back of my neck intensified my fear of being burned, as she slowly pulled the comb through my resistant curls. When she was done, my tight “unruly” coils had turned into a flowing, straight mane. Once she was finished, I finally "felt pretty" like the other girls at my primary school in the heart of London. As a woman, who has only worn my hair Natural for ten years, I still remember the sting of being a five-year-old who felt "unpretty." In 2019, Dove co-founded the CROWN Coalition to advance efforts of the CROWN Act to end race-based hair discrimination for all through actual legislation in the US. known as the CROWN Act. Dove is working to pass the act in all 50 states with a goal of 500k petition signatures. 📝 To support the movement, Dove commissioned the NEW 2021 Dove CROWN Research Study for Girls that unveils the alarming rate in which Black girls experience hair discrimination: 🚫 53% of Black mothers, whose daughters have experienced hair discrimination, say their daughters have experienced race-based hair discrimination as early as five years old. 🚫 86% of Black teens who experience discrimination state they have experienced discrimination based on their hair by the age of 12. 🚫 Exposure to hair discrimination has a negative impact on Black girls’ self-esteem. 🚫 81% of Black girls in majority-white schools say they sometimes wish their hair was straight. As a #DovePartner, I'm asking that you PLEASE join Dove in the Movement to STOP race-based hair discrimination from happening #AsEarlyAsFive and most importantly, sign the petition to make it illegal in all 50 states. Link in the comments below! 👇🏽 “Tag 3 friends” to repost and help us to reach our goal of 500k signatures!! 💪🏽 Ashanti Maya Martin Sharon Hurley Hall (she-her) Lisa Hurley, M.A. (She/Her) Ashani Mfuko (She/Her), I'd love to have your support and hear your experiences, ladies!! ❤️ #Dove #AsEarlyAsFive #TheCROWNAct #PassTheCROWN
Who does the petition get sent to? And how will they make race-based discrimination on hair illegal?
Elizabeth, it won’t accept my zip code and let me sign; will it accept UK postcodes? Just thought you should know in case anyone else has as the same problem.
Thanks for lifting the work I lead Elizabeth Leiba on behalf of the CROWN Coalition!
As an adoptee, I was so mad that my adoptive mother put no effort into helping me with my hair. As a result, I had a short cut afro during most of my childhood. I had to wear my ethic hair with pride as I didn’t have a choice. I used to get a lot of flack from many people about my hair while it was an Afro and as I grew it out. It wasn’t until my teens that I let it grow, which was part of me reclaiming my Jamaican heritage. Looking back, I used to wish as a child that I had a mom who would have straightened it so I could fit in better. As I’ve gotten older it’s been so nice that ethnic hair is more accepted because I still really don’t even know how to straighten my hair. This moment and this movement is so key for people like me who really couldn’t have rocked the straight look. I appreciate you and I’m so grateful to be able to read your story.
Signed! I remember experiencing an awkward moment in the elevator with my all white leadership where it was commented that my director 'liked my hair much better this way' after experimenting with my hair and accidentally lengthening my natural coils. The air suddenly shifted as some recognized that as inappropriate though no one spoke up. I responded 'Hmm, I'll keep that in mind.' And left it at that. I didn't have a firm grasp on racial bias at the time but knew that shift in energy was not to my benefit. Black women face countless agressions in the workplace. Nothing micro about it.
Not trying to be dumb or rude when I ask this, but the only dumb question is one you don’t ask. What constitutes race based hair discrimination? (As I don’t want to accidentally offend someone.)
2X Bestselling Author/Writing Coach | Keynote Speaker | Neurodivergent - ADHD Diagnosis | Bipolar Disorder | Epileptic | 🩷💜💙 | #BLM ✊🏽 | Vegan 🌱 | 🇵🇸 🍉 | Seen in NYTimes, Forbes & TIME | SXSW 2024 Panelist | ΔΣΘ
2yPlease sign the CROWN petition here: 👇🏽 https://www.dove.com/us/en/stories/campaigns/as-early-as-five.html