You may or may not have followed femilady blog Jezebel’s coverage of Ashley Baker, the former Glamour magazine staffer who pronounced afros and dreadlocks “corporate fashion dont’s.” Her comments sparked a debate over the racial implications, and possibly racist attitudes toward, different hairstyles both in the workplace and out. Anyway, we followed the story kinda obsessively because, like, hair! And racism! Two of our favorite topics after makeup and sexism. And make-up sex.

Although anyone would be hard pressed to define a “Latina” hairstyle, we’re pretty sure we’ve seen several brands of hair products marketed toward women with “ethnic hair,” usually with a tan, smiling lady with mounds of dark, curly hair preening sultrily at us from the bottle. We find it a little confusing that any hair that isn’t straight and blonde, red or light brown is considered “ethnic,” but no matter. If the advertising world is to be believed (and isn’t it always?), Latinas have big smiles, big attitude and big, big hair. Big hair that would look ever so much better if it weren’t as, well, big:

A visit to a few Passaic County hair salons revealed that, while women of different ethnicities are frequently going under the hot iron or getting chemical relaxers to straighten their hair, it’s because of current trends and not for professional or racial reasons.

On a recent afternoon, Delcy Lopez, who’s originally from Peru, was getting her kinky black hair pulled straight by a stylist at Alter Ego in Passaic. Her stylist commented that most women who frequent the salon, whether they’re Hispanic or black, straighten their hair because they think the style is “sexier.”

At Margaret’s Hair Salon in Paterson, Laquinda Reams said the majority of her professional black clients prefer their hair “bone straight.” But she said the choice was based on personal preference and had nothing to do with race.

Because Latinas come in a variety of races and, in many cases, different blends of these races, many have to deal with a “dominant standard of beauty” which touts straight, sleek, long hair as a beauty ideal - an ideal far removed from their own natural hair texture:

Hair is closely linked to race in the recently published memoir “Secret Daughter: A Mixed Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away,” by Columbia University professor June Cross. Cross’ hair has been a persistent issue since her white mother sent her to live with her black father’s family in 1957. After divorcing her father, Cross’ mother decided her kinky-haired daughter wouldn’t fit in with her new life as the wife of a Hollywood actor because she couldn’t “pass” for white. Later in life, as a television producer, Cross often felt the pressure of wearing straightened versus natural hair.

Cross said the way women choose to wear their hair reflects societal norms. “We all want to look like whatever we think the dominant standard of beauty is,” she said in a phone interview.

Our question to you, our stylish and hairy readers (male and female alike), is as follows: Have you ever felt you were treated differently specifically because of your hairstyle? Can hair be racialized? Politicized? Sexualized? And, if so, how do you either fight against or conform to standards of beauty and propriety, especially in the workplace? And, lastly, have you ever used your luscious tresses or mounds of glossy chest hair to your advantage?

Bias against hairstyles reveals a possible racial divide [NorthJersey.com]