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hairofny-blog · 10 years ago

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HairofNY: The unspoken repression of self-expression

Discrimination. A word you hear often in corporate America. When I hear discrimination I think of old worn out beliefs. It’s like saying the earth and everything on it was created in 7 days. Even the pope just admitted in believing in the theory of evolution- http://bit.ly/popebelievesinevolution

For all us scientist we’re like I KNOWW DUH!

The same thing goes for black people or women. You have to be out of your mind if you think black people or women are any less capable than white males. Human beings become who they are as a result of their beliefs and experiences.

These beliefs are slowly changing and there are advocates against race, gender identity as well as sexual orientation discrimination. In fact, the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 on 11/07/2013. If only the damn House would come to their senses and stop worrying about people suing each other and start worrying about people committing suicide because they lost their job or can’t get one. Hey House, are people being sued more of a concern than people losing their actual lives?

So what about hair? Judging someone solely based on their hair is just as discriminatory as judging someone based on their race, gender or sexual orientation. An article published by The Huffington Post stated, “Startling new psychological research challenges previous thinking that hair colour is merely about personal preference. Instead a massive consensus appears to exist on which hair colour is preferred, and there also appears to be such severe prejudice associated with the tint of your locks, this is possibly as harsh as racial discrimination.” - http://bit.ly/hairpredjudice

The Tech industry clearly a leader in breaking grounds, although still catching up in gender and race equality, has been the most accepting of hairstyles.

Limor Fried (above) founder of Adafruit Industries, an open source for DIY hardware kits,has pink hair and is a powerful, accomplished, driven woman. Any company would excel with her on their team, too bad for them she started her own team. http://bit.ly/pinkhairmakingmillions

Another example of hair discrimination in action is when Tyler Bailey a black man with dreads was told he had to cut his hair in order to obtain an MBA. http://bit.ly/cutdreadsforMBA

Why as a society must we insist on stereotypes?

If I were to dye my hair blue tomorrow, does that somehow change my intelligence, abilities, drive or beliefs?

NO, the only thing it changes is the color of my hair.

The world would be a better place if people were able to express themselves fully. Why do we have to hide who we are? Why to we have to form and fit in? What if we were allowed to be exactly who we are?

Go to Burning Man where self-expression is one of its core principles. It’s the happiest place on earth and one of the most breath taking. You’ll see CEO’s and other accomplished executive level members of society expressing themselves through wild hair and clothing all the while rocking huge shit eating grins. Sadly when it’s time to go back to the real world or default world as burners call it, it’s back to serious faces and normal unexpressed hair.

If you’re hiding who you are then how are you supposed to love yourself? Underneath that mask is the belief that if you showed your true “colors” people wouldn’t accept you.

We all know that when you don’t accept yourself you are not truly happy.

There’s the saying, “you can’t love someone unless you love yourself”. So here we are, conforming and pretending a little bit here and there to be something we’re not and perpetuating judgment, which is really a synonym for, hate.

I mean come on people. You want the world to be a better place? You want world peace, well guess what? In the words of Buddha:

“Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.”

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”

Imagine how much more loving this world would be if we felt we could love ourselves for exactly who we are?

I wish we as humans actually treated people like “its what’s on the inside that counts”, instead of just preaching it then discriminating against people based on what they look like.

What would the experience be of the world if we were all blonde, blue eyed and white, with all the same features? (Don’t say Hitler’s dream)

It would be BORINGGGGGGGGG!!!!

The beauty in the world stems from our diversity. No two humans are alike. Even identical twins from the same sperm and egg have different fingerprints and different personalities.

Our diversity should be celebrated not repressed.

Imagine if instead of focusing on the mundane bullshit of what Lady Gaga’s hair looked like at the Super Bowl, we actually focused on things that matter?

Think solar roadways, clean sustainable energy, humane treatment of animals, humane treatment of people, no child going hungry, no one committing suicide because of their appearance, the list goes on.

If we could all stand together, we could turn to a stranger, ask for a hug and receive one because everyone was so in love with themselves they loved everyone else too.

That’s what I’m an advocate for. I imagine a bright and beautiful world, full of different hairstyles and colors, full of love, where we judge people on their accomplishments and what they have contributed to the world as well as how they treat others.

My name is Megan Wainer and my mission is to get a section addressing discrimination of hair in the workplace written into the S.815 - Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 and continue to advocate for equality until the House passes that bill.

Feel Inspired? Join the cause by submitting your own story here: http://hairofny.tumblr.com/submit

Follow the stories on Instagram @HairofNY

Still Curious? See my interview on the HairofNY here: http://bit.ly/HairofNYonHumanityHangout

#hairofNY #hair #change #self expression #repression #mini rant #movement #justdoit

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hairofny-blog · 10 years ago

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Career Change?

This is a post I wrote on my other blog before I had a true vision for HairofNY:

12/11/15

I’m having an “affair” on my career with hair. I just finished an internship at SoundCloud as a product manager and am “looking” for full-time work as a product manager, today I have an interview for product manager at People.com! At the same time I’m taking actions to begin my career as a hairstylist:GlossGenius, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and this Blog all @megshairaffair

My hair obsession goes way back. My mom still tells stories about how I would sneak into her bed from age 3 and wake her up from twirling her hair in my fingers in my sleep! Before the internet and all the DIY tutorials out there I was creating beautiful intricate hair designs on my barbies. I would give anything to have those hair styles documented. My mom is a nerdy scientist and never taught me anything! There were no role models within a few clicks, no influences coming from Instagram. I just did it because I wanted to, it made me happy. By the time I hit high school my friends were paying me to do updos for special occasions I was already starting a business.

So how did I end up in a career in product management? Parents

In high school I asked my mom:

Me: Some of the kids are leaving during the day to go to beauty school, can I do that?

Mom: No that’s not for you, those kids are the unfortunate ones that can’t get into or afford college so they’re training to go straight into the workforce

WHAT?!?! In that case I’m a straight A student and have the opportunity to go to college so that path is definitely not for me; I need to do something that only smart people can do!

Have you ever been curious about something then told by someone you trust that it’s a bad idea? Did you listen to them or say fuck it? I hope you said fuck it. I didn’t and instead my path went like this:

Bachelors in Chemistry with a minor in Psychology

8 months working towards a PhD for Pharmaceutical Chemistry

3 months as a broke 21 year old having a quarter-life crisis

4 years as a project manager implementing electronic medical records in health care organizations

2 months as a wealthy 26 year old lost in life

3 months at General Assembly in a Product Management Immersive

3 months interning at SoundCloud as a product manager

3 months as a broke 27 year old

After painfully being rejected from every job I’ve applied to for the past 3 months the universe has finally woken me up out of my people pleasing nightmare and I’m starting to learn the subtle art of not giving a fuck. If you want to learn you can start here: Mark Manson’s- The subtle are of not giving a fuck

What’s next?

Blog posts (I’m telling my mom what I’m really up to today YIKES!)

Instagrams

Pins

Tweets

Freelance:

Blowouts

Updos

Hairstyling

Build a following

Work for minimum wage at a top NYC hair salon

Go back to school…again

2 years as an apprentice

Finalllyyyy living a life I love as a badass hairstylist in NYC

I’m going to pulverize anything that gets in my way and tell you all about it.

Stay tuned!

~Meg

#career change #courage #dreams #fortheloveofhair #hair #hairgoals

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