United Kingdom: Unilever commits to preventing discrimination on the basis of hair and hairstyles

The consumer goods giant Unilever has signed up to the Halo Code, the UK’s first black hair code, which aims to protect people with afros and other black hairstyles so they can go to work or to school with those hairstyles without fear of being judged. According to the activists that founded the code, and formed the Halo Collective, one in five black women feel societal pressure to straighten their hair for work. “Despite hair being a protected racial characteristic under the law [on discrimination], there is a widely held belief that black hairstyles are inappropriate, unattractive, and unprofessional,” says Edwina Omokaro, co-founder of the Halo Collective. Employers that sign up to the code commit to allowing their staff to wear black hairstyles, to respecting the identities associated with those hairstyles, and to authorising all styles (for example, locs, twists, braids, cornrows and fades) on the basis that the hairstyle of an employee has no bearing on their professional qualities. “We believe the individuality of hair should be celebrated, which is why we are supporting and communicating the Halo Code to our people,” says Richard Sharp, vice president for HR at Unilever UK & Ireland. He adds that the move by Unilever to sign up to the campaign “is a vital step in the fight to ensure racial justice and racial equity for the next generation”.