Celebrating The CROWN Act

At Madison Reed, our people are our greatest asset, and we pride ourselves on a shared sense of belonging. We are deeply committed to equality, and work with a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to ensure the heart and soul of our brand values are demonstrated in how we hire, acknowledge, support, and promote our people.

In this spirit, we want to celebrate The CROWN Act, otherwise known as Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. 

Did you know that Black women are 1.5 times more likely than White women to be sent home from the workplace because of their hair? According to this article in Forbes magazine, they are also 30% more likely to be made aware of a formal workplace appearance policy. Of course the discrimination isn’t just in the workplace, but schools, churches, public places, etc. Simply put—this is not acceptable.

The CROWN Act was created to end discrimination based on race-based hair styles by extending statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots in the workplace and public schools. 

To date, seven states—California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Virginia, Maryland and Colorado—have passed the CROWN Act making race-based hair discrimination illegal. An additional 23 states have introduced the legislation for consideration, however, this means that in the rest of the country, Black women can still be fired over the way they wear their hair, and Black students can be disciplined for their hair style.

Not to be confused with the CROWN Act itself, the CROWN Coalition exists as an alliance of non-governmental organizations dedicated to the advancement of anti-discrimination If you would like to join in with your support of the CROWN Coalition, please go here for more information.

At Madison Reed, every day is a celebration of hair of all kinds, but we are happy to hear that the Crown Coalition has declared July 3 as National Crown Day, also known as Black Hair Independence Day. This is a day of solidarity for the human rights of Black people to wear their hair however they want, with pride, and without repercussions. While we are a few months out from that right now, we are celebrating already.