what about a sleek, chic, bob?
and then maybe a prada black boring uniform?
and numbers tatooed on our forearms.
btw- love your body.

Can't wait for the '20 best bleaching creams of 2007' spread.

"Passing for White-The Latest Version of Faking Ogasm".

The Glamour cover pic is pretty fitting for this post, considering the roadkill-quality rug they slapped on poor Latifah.

That doesn't even look like Latifah, cover magazines continue to become more ridiculous everytime.

i love how "political" seems to be code for "anything that might tip someone off as to your status of 'black,' other than, you know, your skin."

in that spirit, i think we can all agree that claire danes needs to tone down the honky--it's already given the queen a nasty case of suburb hair.

If you are measuring your 'belonging' in a race by your hairstyle, you have bigger problems then being not office fashionable.

Of course a fashion editor is going to tell you you need over processed hair to look professional. Sadly women professionals do get judged by their looks, especially by their fat and balding co-workers. It sucks, but not as much as the fact those professionals are not earning on average what their male counterparts are, regardless of their fashion choices.

@Leiakat:

I've found that women are far worse than men in judging others on "appropriate" dress.

@Leiakat:

But I totally agree on the compensation point.

I bet this coulda sparked a lot more outrage if this had happened at a different firm; Cleary's known for being one of the most liberal of the big white shoe firms.

Then again, really doubtful a different firm would've brought in an effing Glamour editor to begin with. (This had to be a summer associate event, right?)

@doxastic:
"Hey, Claire, why are you wearing that do-rag?"
"Oh, this? I'm trying out this new stlye called 'tone down the honky'."
[www.firstlinemfg.com]

"Political Hair"... I cann just see Ken Paves and the rest of the Couiffeur Wizards running to their clients insisting that they add political commentary through their new extensions cut right from the heads of poor African women.

Justice can be hairy.

I've just added "Find ways to incorporate 'tone down the honky' into daily conversation" to my to-do list.

Note to self: Glamour sucks ass even more than I thought it did before.

um, wow. i never thought in a million years i would come down on the side of a white male corporate partner. from a nyc "devils advocate" style firm. (it may have an allegedly more liberal rep, but in that world, it's kind of like being a serial killer w/a good personality.) thank you glamour, for showing me that the world isn't, um, black and white.

Political, my ass.

1. I will never buy Glamour again.
2. This honky would be delighted to have the natural hair-structure needed to sport an afro *or* dreads.
3. I'd rather have a lawyer/doctor/whatever with a 'fro or dreads than that awful relaxer-hair.

It's called "work with what you're given".

Hell to the what now?

True confession: I have always been envious of the way black women can rock the hairdo. Any hairdo. Their hair has personality, style, and guts. And anyone who can't figure that out shouldn't be working for any magazine that purports to endorse "glamour." I'm disappointed in them; I guess my expectations were higher than they by all rights should have been.

It's a sad but true fact. I've worked in corporate America for seven years now, and I've never seen anyone on (or looking to be) the executive track with dreads or afros. Do you know it takes me an hour a day + an average of $40 a week in product/relaxer, etc. to keep my hair looking this white? And I'm only half black! I can only imagine what the 100 percenters have to put up with.

Ok, so, um, what do the fashion police at GQ tell the guys at the "manly" luncheon; Hey, dudes, goes easy on the Shaft attire and leave the crunk cup at home - use a coffee mug?

However, you can still slap each other on the back and yell "Dude" all the time while sporting your Princeton sweatshirt. Sweeeet.

so this is the same mag with the editor who had the designer surrogate/IVF baby, right? but no one thought she was shallow then. got it.

So, this summer, to give my hair a rest from the chemicals that have caused it to break off, come out in clumps, or just plain old not grow, I decided to rock braids. My first day in the office, my (white, male) boss is all, "Um, what's up with your hair? Are you making a statement?"

Yeah! My statement is that I'm tired of spending half of every Saturday in the hair salon and hundreds of dollars a year for unhealthy hair so that YOU and the rest of my co-workers can feel more comfortable!

Did they tell the white women to spend hours styling their hair into curls? All the black girls need to straighten their hair, all the white girls need to get perms! Just like Opposite Day. Or Senior Prom.

I hate, hate, hate the way a lot of white corporate-types love to over-generalize the term "dreadlocks." I mean sure, I can see that ass-long, uneven, raggedy dreadlocks might not make one come across as professional, but that should already be apparent to anyone in the business world. It's just so patronizing. And to suggest that there's something "political" about not actively trying to effect whiteness...yeah. Stupid.

as someone who is more cracker-ass than any of you could ever aspire to be, I normally would have no business commenting on something like this. but as someone who will most likely pop out a baby with a black man and thus be the mother of a child who will be faced with adversity like this bullshit, I feel like saying Fuck the Man. yeah we could all bitch about Corporate America being completely racist and gender-biased, or we could bypass it altogether. I say, women with hair prone to Afros, be yourselves! do what you will with your appearance, as long as you are respected for your intelligence and hard work. and if you work somewhere that pressures you to conform to an aesthetic ideal, either find another place to work, or be a one-woman revolution. perhaps by the time my offspring are old enough to get corporate jobs, it will no longer be an issue. or, I'll be helping her shop for skin bleach, relaxer, and diet pills, to help her look like her PhotoShopped resume pictures.

..and no one should have pink or green hair in the corporate world either.

As I was reading the comments, I thought to myself that my natural hair is political. It is my way of saying that I am tired of chemical burns and paying to much money to some hair salon. I am tired of trying to fit someone else's beauty standard and I have decided to make my own. Plus, my hair has never been more healthy.

P.S Glamour: I won't be buying you anymore!

I was unaware that in 2007 "professional" was synonymous with "white". Or that doing something natural with your hair was suddenly "political".

Fuck that noise.

Is this Glamour editor lunching with Imus?

@goldhoops: I'm in your corner.

@sinikl: And how's the baby's hair?

I should also add that someone (an Asian female exec) once said that an Asian woman must never, ever, ever dye her hair blonde (in addition to not dying her hair pink, green, blue or whatever colour). Natural hair colours only (I guess brown highlights are okay...)

@GoldHoops: Amen! Honestly, for us natural curly babes, the price we spend to make our hair straight whether via a relaxer, straightening iron, or drugstore chemicals is money that I prefer to waste on my cable and Internet bill.

Oh god...is everyone supposed to have Condoleezza hair? I shudder at the thought.

And seriously...did they outfit Mariska with extensions from the weave-tastic by Britney line? She is usually so pretty and I love her short hair. Here's hoping it is just Queen Latifah's weave trying to escape.

"Political"? Leaving your hair its natural texture is political? That is such incredibly racist bullshit.

I work at a firm big enough to beat up other big law firms and take their lunch money, and there are African-American women here who wear Afros. I sincerely doubt anybody cares. I don't know of any women or men who wear dreadlocks, but I have seen braids on both. It is a scary damn day when a corporate law firm has a broader view of racially/cultural diverse dress than a fashion magazine. (Actually, a law firm has a much better view of what will get their ass sued for employment discrimination than a fashion magazine does, but it seems to work out the same way.)

Shameful.

The editor was dumb to say that, but only because she said out loud what other people just think as they are not promoting your ass.

I'm black and I'm all about black power etc., but I also like to get regularly promoted and have my bonus checks stacked - that's how I plan to get over on the man.

When I first started working, I was somewhat beligerent about the whole hair/makeup thing so my sister asked me to look around at all the black women in my firm and note how they dress, wear their hair, if they wear makeup, etc. Lo and behold, all the black women in non-support roles had their hairs pressed, wore make-up and had the whole professional look together. The same was not so for the administrative staff.

Now, any black women with a corporate job probably doesn't have enough fingers on her hands to count the number of times she's been mistaken for "the help" so it seemed short sighted for me to decide to follow the fashion edicts of the support staff rather than the sisters in the office who were actually running things.

While I do draw the line at wearing my hair bone straight everyday (I work out in the am and after washing it, refuse to spend the hour needed to blow dry and straighten my hair), my hairdresser and I had a lot of trial and error finding the right length and cut that would suit "wet and wavy" styles appropriate for the office.

Gah. Any style choice a woman makes is generally seen as "a statement" -- makeup vs. none, pants vs. skirt, short hair vs. long -- but for black women it's ten times as bad. Why they should be trying to tell us ANYTHING with their hair, other than "I have hair," I have no idea.

I think a lot of white people are so used to seeing black women with processed hair that they don't realize what actually goes into that, and they don't get why everybody wouldn't want their hair to be that way.

And a huge thank you to Jezebel to introducing me to Kimble products. I am a complete product junky and there are so many fun new things to add to my collection.

@ae38:

so you have a relaxer?

oh no offense to kim kimble but when all her celebrity clients wear weaves i really dont see how her products are in line with my hair choices

This is a mess. A tragic, sad mess. I'm natural* because I was tired of destroying my hair on a regular basis, and it's a shame that I have to choose between, literally, harming myself weekly through chemicals and extreme heat (oh you have not been BURNT [not burned, BURNT] until you've been BURNT by a hot comb), and getting promoted. FOREVER? Forever, ever.

The way I see it, if my big black afro scares/offends you, just be glad I don't know where you parked, cause I'd probably crawl into your backseat and wait for you to get in. Then, I'd yell "OOGA BOOGA WHERE DA WHITE WOMEN AT?!" as you climbed into your car.

And you'd die of cardiac arrest. No one wants that. Small blessings, hmm?

*I alternate between my own fro, fabulous wigs (sometimes curly, sometimes not), and sewn-in weaves. It's a miraculous thing, the hair of a black woman. And I'm proud :) Screw Glamour.

@hypnotic: Yup. And don't knock a weave - I have only had one done once and taking care of your hair with that thing on it is no walk in the park.

@ae38: I think you make really good points. While it not fair that anyone should have to jump through hoops to have the percieved 'professional' look, and there are white and hispanic women who are also forced into spending way too much time and effort to look corporate, it is a sacrific paid to be able to move ahead to where your talents should have put you in the first place.

i followed the directions to a t and my balls still look small.

whatup glamour?

@ae38: Funny, I've never had too much trouble taking care of my hair when it was in weaves. In fact, my hair grows like a weed when it's in a sew-in style. I think a lot of it depends on your stylist, what you use to take care of it, and your "taking care of" techniques.

@Leiakat: I tink ae38 makes good points, too (do you cut off your nose to spite your face?), but at the same time, this is the problem:

there are white and hispanic women who are also forced into spending way too much time and effort to look corporate

What does "looking corporate" entail? To me, it means put together and polished/chic, which is not the same thing as "not scary to those unfamiliar with your natural state of being."

I've seen many, many women with afros rocking a business suit and looking mighty fly while doing it. The problem here does not lie with the woman; it lies with the notions that there is something wrong with her the way she is, naturally. Are people with birthmarks on their faces doomed to a promotion-free life as well because they don't fit into the Eurocentric, normative ideal of "The Way Things Should Be?"

It's probably naive of me to hope not.

Wearing white after labor day is a fashion don't. So, apparently, is being black. PS. I would really like to know how to get "political" hair. Thanks to Lydia for the Deep Thoughts logo!

What i want to know is if that law firm then had a talk about unacceptable male 'dos.

Did they talk about how unprofessional it looked to have a dinky little pony tail to offset being bald? Did they talk about comb overs? Did they explain why bald heads glistening with skin oil were unacceptable?

Uh, probably not. Because then they'd be describing the (male) partners in the firm. 'Bad' hair is only ok with the requisite 'beans & frank' below.

@rtotheissa: I sweat a lot. Working out with a weave just did not cut it for me. I was walking around looking a hot ass mess - kind of like the celebutards with their natty weaves. Not a good look.

@ae38: Fair enough. I can recommend a stylist to you if you live in the LA area, though :)

I looked at this womans myspace, and as for her face: How truly dreadful!

If she had any intelligence she would know that the afro (or THE NATURAL because oh yes, it is natural) grows out of the scalp, just the way nature intended. Not so much a "political statement." No one has 3 hours to spend in the morning trying to pick that thing out just to make some political statement. Maybe its just that people like wearing their afros for them it has nothing to do with you. Trust me you re not that important.