HEALTH ACADEMICS have demanded an end to alleged ‘hair racism’ in the NHS by scrapping policies on hairstyles which they claim discriminate against black nurses.

The nursing lecturers and working professionals have come together to produce a new research paper calling for an end to dress codes which they say unfairly target black members of staff.

Georgina Cox, Shelia Sobrany, Emerald Jenkins, Cledwyn Musipa, Philip Darbyshire have all contributed to the paper, titled Time for Nursing to Eradicate Hair Discrimination.

They claim that when a black nurse have their hair in locs or braids, they are more susceptible to discrimination as rules indicate hair must be combed.

It also may be equally impossible to tie up and secure natural black hair without using bandanas, ties or wraps as these are also banned in some dress codes.

The academics also highlighted how nurses are expected to apologise for, hide or in some cases cut off their dreads, braids or other styles of black hair.

The research paper concludes: “We guarantee that black nurses will be just as knowledgeable, caring, competent and professional with their black hairstyle in place as they would be with this part of their identity stripped away.

“Nurses should not wait for permission slips from the powerful before identifying and dismantling these policies of prejudice and ending the affront of hair racism in nursing.”

Georgina Cox, a Senior Lecturer in Adult Health who has been a registered nurse for 30 years including as a hospital ward manager, decided to write the paper based on her personal experiences and issues her students have faced in the workplace.

She said: “If you were to Google professional hair up until the death of George Floyd, you would have seen pictures of white women with cut, bobbed and straight hair, while for unprofessional hair you would have seen afros, funky dreads, coloured hair and predominately black people.

“So in other words black hair is not acceptable. All the connotations with black hair are that it is unruly, unkempt and go to be controlled.

“This is someone’s hair and part of their make-up and for someone to say cut your hair off is an attack on the person and their psychological wellbeing.”

Shelia Sobrany, a lecturer in Adult Nursing at Middlesex University and registered nurse for more than 30 years who co-authored the paper, agreed that the issue “impacts all black nurses with afros and our students have been worn down by the discrimination.”

“This is a form of coercive persuasion and power control to try to get somebody to fit into a box who doesn’t actually need to,” she said.

“I’m sorry to say but it’s also a form of racism because it constantly weathers people of colour whose identity is to have, grow and nurture these locks in different ways, which stems from their heritage and cultural background.

“Nurses are supposed to be non-judgemental, treat people equally and not discriminate but the policies on hair for student and professional black nurses often do the exact opposite.”

Academics are now advocating for new legislation in the UK similar to the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) which was introduced in the US in September last year, which outlaws workplace discrimination against black people on the basis of their hair preferences.

A second research paper – Will nurse leaders help eradicate ‘hair racism’ from Nursing and Health Services? – examines how senior managers in the NHS can end discriminatory policies.

The paper argues the only policy on hair should be one of common sense, stating: “We do not advocate an anything goes approach to nurses’ hair.

“The only hair policy required for any nurse is that hair should be clean, away from the face, up off the collar and not in the way of any procedure being undertaken.

“No nurse’s hair should ever be dangling onto wounds, incisions or central lines.”

The research was also co-authored by ICU nurse Cledwyn Musipa, Philip Darbyshire, a retired Professor of Nursing, and Emerald Jenkins, a PhD candidate from the Hopkins School of Nursing in the US.

Both papers have been peer reviewed and published separately in the National Library of Medicine (PubMed) and Europe PMC journals.

Sheila and Georgina are active co-chairs of the Anti-Racism Network at Middlesex University.