Good Hair To Good Manners, A Curse To An Unfair Principal
I went to a Catholic school from Pre-K through high school. I was probably one of five Black students in the entire school. I was never a great student, but was liked by everyone. Parents loved me, teachers were annoyed by me because I didn’t try but they appreciated my good manners.
We ended up with a new principal around the time I started middle school, Mrs G. This is where my troubles began. Seemingly for no reason, Mrs G hated me. It could have been for my not stellar grades, but she also made comments to my mom like, “Your son might have everyone else fooled, but not me”.
It was wild. So, come 7th grade I decided to grow my hair out; it had been pretty short prior. My hair grows out into an afro until it gets super long and begins to fall into curls. My school had rules and dress codes.
The dress code stated that students could not have hair that went over their ears, past their eyebrows or over their collar. As stated above, this was a primarily white school and they had not taken into consideration different hair and the way it grows.
Mine grew out, definitely not over my eye brows, and not over my ears or collar. Granted, if one were to grab it and pull it down, it certainly would pass any of those points, but how I wore it technically met the dress code.
Mrs G contacted my mom and told her that I was in violation of the school’s dress code. When asked how, Mrs G stated my hair was far too long and, again, outside of dress code. She wasn’t prepared for the response.
My mom read the aforementioned dress code and told Mrs G that my hair didn’t reach my eye brows, and didn’t touch my ears or collar. Mrs G was not happy about it but couldn’t argue further. My mom, who prefers my hair short, nonetheless told me to stand my ground within reason.
We made sure my hair was done nice and not just randomly growing. We would keep it cut just so that even if it were to be straight, it would still meet dress code. Well, Mrs G still didn’t like it and would continue to state I was outside of policy. Turns out she just didn’t like afros.
Well, the summer between 7th-8th grade, I surprised my mom by shaving it all off. We live in the south and I get hot easily so it was just easier for me to have short hair. Fast forward to the first day of 8th grade.
The dress code had been changed to state hair on boys could only be a certain length despite where it grows to. I just know it annoyed Mrs G when I showed up with a buzz cut. Furthermore, I would go on to be awarded the “Take Time to be Kind” award, the “Most Kind Hearted” award.
Both of these are voted on by staff, students, and other parents. I also got Athlete of the Year that year. These were all presented by Mrs G. My mom loved it. Story credit: Reddit / Successful-Site-8896