A young black man stands in front of his peers as a woman in a blue tracksuit puts on gloves and hastily cuts away at his hair. After being confronted by a referee, the high school wrestler had to make a decision — cut his hair or forfeit the match.
In 2019 a video of a New Jersey high school wrestler being forced to cut his dreadlocks in order to compete in a match went viral. As a result, there has been a national conversation surrounding hair discrimination, specifically amongst ethnic hair styles. The state of Washington is considering a bill that would expand the current law against discrimination to include the discrimination of hair styles and textures. They would be the fourth state in the United States to do so.
MEET SHALOM
Shalom Masango, an international student at the University of Idaho from Zimbabwe, has struggled finding products that work for her hair. Having naturally curly hair, she said hair care can be a struggle.
When Masango first came to the US she wasn’t able to bring her hair care products, due to weight limits on the plane. Afterwards, she relied on a friend who also has a curly hair texture to help her find products that would work with her.
“I used to call her and ask her if I should buy a certain product because she had better input,” Masango said. “Even though she’s white, she also has curly hair, so she knows the struggle.”
Masango said that while there are stores, like Walmart and WinCo, that carry hair products for hair with a texture like hers, she tends to look to Amazon for her products.
“Amazon is my favorite to find (hair care products),” Masango said. “I know for my next hairstyle I’ve already started looking at extensions on Amazon and I’m just keeping that on my favorites list so when the time comes, I just look.”
Last year Masango had tightly braided box braids. During Thanksgiving break, Masango decided to change to faux locs, a protective hairstyle that looks similar to dreadlocks. When she went to visit her aunt in Texas, they bought faux loc extensions.
“In Texas there are more black people and you have more shops, so I wanted to get my hair done there,” Masango said. “Initially I talked to my aunt and she bought a hair stylist for me so I could do my hair, but then I said, ‘it’s expensive, it’s something I can do by myself or my aunt can help me’.”
Masango and her aunt put the top section of her hair into cornrows and used crochet faux loc extensions to loop the bottom portion of her hair through. The whole process took around three hours. The amount of time Masango spends on maintaining her hair is long, but necessary with the type of hair she has.
“It takes patience that’s for sure,” Masango said. “It’s a learning process you learn every single day.”
MEET JOSEF
Josef Jaroski, an art student at UI, has known he’s wanted a mohawk since he was a kid, first considering it after a trip to Spokane, Washington with his mother.
“It’s one of the most vivid memories I have,” Jaroski said. “We were driving around in a minivan and I looked out the back window and as I was looking out, there was a woman who had a two-foot mohawk. She was walking down the street and I didn’t know why but I really wanted one.”
Despite being interested in the style since the age of six, Jaroski didn’t start styling his hair in a mohawk until a year and a half ago. For many years, Jaroski was not allowed to style his hair this way.
Instead, his mother — an Austrian immigrant who grew up in conservative Texas — had him style his hair in a comb over.
“A lot of the values and stuff that (my family has) are based around what my grandfather would instill,” Jaroski said. “I had to slowly show (my mom) as I got older that you can still be a good person and look different.”
Jaroski has had mixed reactions from the public as well, he said. Most people expect a mohawk to be standing up, Jaroski explained that he doesn’t often style it that way.
Jaroski grew up in Nez Perce, Idaho, surrounded by Native American culture. Mohawks, originating in the Native American mohawk culture, are traditionally seen down rather than pointed up, only to be put up when going to war.
“I think people do see you more aggressively,” Jaroski said. “When I wear it down, I’m definitely the dude with the man bun and a lot of people don’t realize it is a mohawk when it’s in a man bun.”
Jaroski explained that due to his hair as well as his tattoos and piercings, he feels people tend to label him as aggressive.
“It’s not easy getting a job looking like this,” Jaroski said. “You don’t get a firm job with a washed-out red mohawk.”
Jaroski is an artist, and while many recognize him in the art community due to his hair, he doesn’t feel it truly reflects his art style.
“I’m a landscape and portrait painter,” Jaroski said. “You don’t expect to see a dude with an ear tattoo, hand tattoos and a red mohawk to be outside in nature painting landscapes.”
While Masango and Jaroski have very different experiences with their hair, both feel the way they style it is a part of who they are.
“If you get going too fast in life it will all start looking the same,” Jaroski said. “Nobody really expresses something that they feel deep down inside it’s like it all becomes a giant blur and I don’t want to be a copy, as much as it sucks sometimes.”
Story by Brianna Finnegan
Photos by Brianna Finnegan
Design by Bonnie Lengele