Forum Activity for @allison-ruthless

Dreadlocks and employement laws your rights to wear dreads in the workplace explained

dreads jobs employment issues

*cross posted from another thread per request of Soaring Eagle*

I've been locked for 5.5 years this time around and I've been in quite a few corporate jobs, with this set and the last. Walmart actually tried to fire me until I threatened a lawsuit and then they were all apologies. I'm at McDonald's now and they tried to get on me at first but I shut it down real quick and now they're cool, they tried to tell me I had to wear a bun "so they don't get in the food" and I told them that my locs don't shed a fraction of what normal hair sheds but I gladly would as soon as every other female employee did the same instead of wearing ponytails... Now I rock a ponytail, what.

all you need is this line right here: my locs are symbolic of my spiritual commitment and faith, they are as clean as yours or anyone else's hair and under title vii you are not permitted to treat me differently or require me to present myself differently than any other employee. DONE. 

You don't work with food or in a kitchen so they can't make you wear a hairnet, and if their policy doesn't require all long haired employees to tie their hair up then they can't legally make you do it - which is good because I can't think of any "religious" excuse for not using a hair tie lol. But in general you can really just tell them you are rasta, and there's no real way to disprove it unless you eat swine in front of them... Buuutttt even so, the law specifically says that religious beliefs must be respected and exceptions must be made EVEN IF you are not very devout and don't fully adhere to the religion. The fact is that they're a large corporation and they're not going to want the negatives that will inevitably come upon them if they try to dispute whether or not your beliefs are actually your beliefs.

I'm trying not to get too long-winded here cuz I do that a lot, but the important part is, please, DO NOT let them push you around and bully you into giving up your rights. Be assertive and firm and they'll realize quickly that you're not to be fucked with unless they want to risk a lawsuit, which they won't. McDonald's even told me that I couldn't have my purse and hoodie with red gold and green on them cuz they're "pot smoking colors" and could be offensive to customers, and after I told them that they're the colors of the Ethiopian flag and the symbol of my faith and I won't be discriminated against, they sent the DISTRICT MANAGER to my store to personally apologize to me!! Stand up for yourself and your locs and you WILL win!!

Did I make a mistake? New,

Dreading Methods

Lmao!!! This is true, in reference to the fairies, I do love the way that law is written. Perfect really. I guess I should have elaborated before, I just put rasta out there cuz it's pretty much the easiest way to inarguably "prove" that your religion justifies your hair. As in it's foolproof and watertight in the event of an employer actually wanting you to "prove" that your beliefs are "sincerely held"... I mean not that that would ever happen within a big dumb American corporation. All it took with Walmart was exactly what I typed up there. My locs are a symbol of my spiritual commitment and faith. And they didn't dare question me further. I don't think most employers would.

but yes for the sake of technicality, you are correct. You could literally make up any ridiculous belief and call it your religion and be protected by law just the same, as long as no one can prove that you're not sincere... But how would they?

hmmm... Now I'm over here wondering if I could get an accommodation at my job so I don't have to wash the bacon pans!!!

sewing...?

Dread Maintenance

SE, I just reread this old post and had to drag it back up for an update... Ugh you were so right!! All that twisting eventually made every one of my sewn ends break off again except one. No damage... But also no ultimate gain. I've worked really hard to stop twisting and I suppose I'm doing alright. My locs have thickened up a bunch since I started really trying to stop that shit. I bought my first crochet hook to tighten when I locked my bangs almost a year ago and got badly addicted to that for a month or two, did a lot of damage and ended up with more loose hair than before from breakage while crocheting that eventually fell out at the roots... So no more hook for maintenance. I'm trying to cut out all maintenance except a little root rubbing when I have to, and separating when needed (BUT I let them do their thing way more so now than before and I have some sweet congos now!!) - the bright side is that I learned to use the hook to reattach the ones that were still falling off, and besides the first experimental one, none of them have thinned out or broken again. I only have maybe two or three that are threatening to break now so hopefully once those come off, if I can keep up with the non twisting, I won't be having that issue anymore. All in all I've lost at least six inches of length from twisting breakage and all my original locs are gone... But these days my head is a lot healthier so I'm hoping that's a thing of the past!! Alright I'm done, just wanted to give a quick (lol) follow up. Thanks for the advice, wish I took it sooner. Peace!

Dandruff and shampooing

Dread Maintenance

@dreadson - I don't know about your particular shampoo, but I use dr. B's and when I found it was contributing to my dry scalp I started keeping a small cup in my shower (my kid's plastic cup, probably 6 oz) and put maybe a teaspoon or less soap in it, then full it up with water and pour it over my head. It helped quite a bit. 

To the original poster (sorry, forgot your name already, I'm burnt and I work too much for normal brain functions like memory lol) and also in reference to a comment made by SE, I am not African or anything of the sort, I'm a pale northern Italian Scottish girl and my hair always got greasy pretty quick before I had locs, but I've had wicked problems with dry flaky scalp business in the past year or so and here's what helped me. Trying to keep the water as cool as possible in the shower (which sucks cuz I love boiling in there, but I also have keratosis so it helps that too) and always rinsing in cold at the end (easy, I run out of hot water every time lol) - the cold rinse closes your hair follicles and the (I forget what they're called- like the equivalent of pores on your hair shaft) and keeps the moisture from the shower from drying out. I also use virgin coconut oil on my scalp whenever needed, so pretty often, by just taking little bits melted on my fingertips and rubbing it in really well. Once or twice a month I even put some in the length of my locs (they're five years old, wouldn't recommend that for locs that aren't fully matured) and it's never made my head look or feel greasy at all. I think coconut oil works differently than other oils in that way, you can smear it all over your face and you won't break out, it actually helps with acne. Aaaaand, if you're feeling crafty, you can always try a homemade hair tea! Rosemary is awesome for dandruff and dryness, and being a full time McDonald's employee with a child and bills to pay I usually can't afford a $15 bottle of essential oil so instead I make a tea by boiling the leaves for 15-20 minutes then straining it into a spray bottle and keeping it in the fridge, and I soak my scalp with it almost daily. I add some tea tree too but I've heard others say it dried them out a bit so I'd be wary and experiment cautiously with that.

i know that was a super long rant, but I used to have a really persistent issue with dry scalp and flakes, and keeping up on those three things has made all the difference for me so hopefully my advice can help you or someone else reading this. And the last thing that I almost forgot, which might help with your need for frequent washes, is when I feel like I could use a wash but don't have time to get in the shower or for whatever reason don't want to, I just stick my head under the faucet and rinse really well in cool water. It gives my hair and scalp a little bit of cleaning and a moisture boost and seems to help keep me flake free. 

Good luck!!

Did I make a mistake? New,

Dreading Methods

Also. In reference to putting them up without harm, I've found that the best thing for me is those rubber no slip elastics by scünci, you can wrap them around once so it's still pretty loose but they won't slip at all. I've damaged my locs by wearing elastics too tight and also by tying them up with the same locs over and over and putting too much stress on them... But a loose pony is great and those elastics are my holy grail. Pretty sure you won't need them though since I'm thinking your employer can't really make you tie them up in the first place! Peace!

Did I make a mistake? New,

Dreading Methods

Man I just lost everything I was typing, ugh. Haven't been here in forever but came across this and had to weigh in. Word to whomever linked to title vii. I've been locked for 5.5 years this time around and I've been in quite a few corporate jobs, with this set and the last. Walmart actually tried to fire me until I threatened a lawsuit and then they were all apologies. I'm at McDonald's now and they tried to get on me at first but I shut it down real quick and now they're cool, they tried to tell me I had to wear a bun "so they don't get in the food" and I told them that my locs don't shed a fraction of what normal hair sheds but I gladly would as soon as every other female employee did the same instead of wearing ponytails... Now I rock a ponytail, what.

all you need is this line right here: my locs are symbolic of my spiritual commitment and faith, they are as clean as yours or anyone else's hair and under title vii you are not permitted to treat me differently or require me to present myself differently than any other employee. DONE. 

You don't work with food or in a kitchen so they can't make you wear a hairnet, and if their policy doesn't require all long haired employees to tie their hair up then they can't legally make you do it - which is good because I can't think of any "religious" excuse for not using a hair tie lol. But in general you can really just tell them you are rasta, and there's no real way to disprove it unless you eat swine in front of them... Buuutttt even so, the law specifically says that religious beliefs must be respected and exceptions must be made EVEN IF you are not very devout and don't fully adhere to the religion. The fact is that they're a large corporation and they're not going to want the negatives that will inevitably come upon them if they try to dispute whether or not your beliefs are actually your beliefs.

I'm trying not to get too long-winded here cuz I do that a lot, but the important part is, please, DO NOT let them push you around and bully you into giving up your rights. Be assertive and firm and they'll realize quickly that you're not to be fucked with unless they want to risk a lawsuit, which they won't. McDonald's even told me that I couldn't have my purse and hoodie with red gold and green on them cuz they're "pot smoking colors" and could be offensive to customers, and after I told them that they're the colors of the Ethiopian flag and the symbol of my faith and I won't be discriminated against, they sent the DISTRICT MANAGER to my store to personally apologize to me!! Stand up for yourself and your locs and you WILL win!!

As a side note, I don't like to condone faking spirituality cuz I haaaaate that shit, but using it to defend your right to wear dreadlocks is different than pretending in your everyday life so anything for the sake of locs and freedom. BUT if you're going to have to fake it, I mean I don't know you or anything about you but the ras in me has to say that perhaps if you're at a point in your life where you might be looking for a spiritual path, please do some reading and reasoning on rasta as a lifestyle (cuz it is not religion, it is lifestyle and spirituality but NOT religion) and maybe you'll find that it is right for you. I might not eat 100% ital and I still have a disgusting nicotine addiction to kick, but rasta changed my entire life and every day I give thanks for the events that brought this path to light for me.

oook, I'll shut up now I promise. Good luck, fight for your right to dreadlock!!!!

sewing...?

Dread Maintenance

Yeahhh I hate to play devil's advocate but, nothing bad has happened as a result of sewing... and I'm not a fan of losing dreadies. I did just get these two cute little magnetized hrmatite hearts (first step in replacing my stolen collection yay) that are really fun to play with constantly, soooo here's to hoping they'll help e keep my damn hands out of my hair.

sewing...?

Dread Maintenance

I was just doing my semi regular sewing session, that is, where I sew up the random dreads that are barely clinging to my head and are threatening to break off (blame my compulsive twisting, and please spare the lecture, I know it's terrible I just can't stop, so unless you have a suggestion on how to keep my bored, fidgety hands out of my head then just ignore that part :x) so I was wondering... does anyone else do this? Or do you just let them break off? It makes me sad to lose my ends, I used to have blonde tips but they're almost all gone from breakage, and I've come a long way to get my length (I started with those obnoxious 3-4 inch long sticking-up-straight type dreadies 4 years ago) so i'd rather throw a few stitches in the weak ones than lose them. Also not gonna lie, I have totally reattached one that fell off before I could get to it O_o. Soooo, am I alone on this one??

updated by @allison-ruthless: 01/13/15 09:59:12PM

First post, 4 week dreads!!!

Introduce Yourself

Hiiiiiii . I'm new too.

You have the perfect head for dreads, lucky you !! And they're gonna be awesome aand kinky curly too, I'm jealous :D idk if you're going for the super natural messy look, but my advice would be to section them off and give them each a light twist, or maybe tie a little piece of string around the base of each (which would help to keep them separated but might be difficult to get out lol) it's hard to keep them from knotting together and becoming a hot mess with super curly hair.

That all depends on what you want though. I'm anal. It was really difficult for me to convince myself not to section my head in perfect squares... I mean I'm glad I didn't, but the sheer disorder of it all nearly drove me insane. More power to you if you want or are able to let them do their own thing!!

hellloooooo :) (does this even belong here?)

Introduce Yourself

Hand yoga sounds great, I'll have to look into that!! Thanks

And bells, I've tried to put a bunch of little bells in my head but I haven't found any that don't get stuck and pull hairs and yeah. That'd be a great idea... iiifffff I didn't just twist them all, all the time. I just had to sew one back together tonight, it was only hanging on by two hairs, and I swept one up while cleaning the bedroom floor yesterday. Boooo