The army is one of the few occupations where your boss can publicly denounce your hairstyle in front of your coworkers, and where choosing an unconventional hairstyle could threaten your career and livelihood.
Black army veteran Krystol Madison, who served from 2003 to 2011 and was deployed twice to Iraq, spoke to Revelist about the many challenges Black woman face when serving in the US and abroad.
Although today Madison is a makeup artist who boldly rocks her natural hair in an Afro, she knows what it’s like to search all over for a relaxer while in Iraq and be constantly scrutinized for her hairstyles by her male superiors.
This is Madison’s experience, as told to Revelist reporter Mary Anderson.
They [said] you had to maintain a professional [and] neat appearance. And it was the same way after training. It’s pretty much all the same stuff. They allowed us to wear cornrows, but even still, you had to put them in a bun in the back if your hair touched your collar."
And then after that three-month mark, that’s when my roots kind of started coming out and they [wouldn’t] lay flat. Once that three-month mark hit, I would get my hair braided and honestly when it came to getting my hair braided it was, ‘Oh, I hope I can find somebody that knows how to braid hair.’"
Yes, we were allowed to wear wigs, weaves, extensions, so long as it didn’t distract from the appearance of the uniform because I guess the purpose of being in uniform is to kind of blend in with our surroundings. We’re not trying to draw attention to anybody."
[I carried the rules with me] because that was something a [Black female] drill sergeant had told me about when I was in basic training.
Once we were all done with training and waiting to graduate, she [gathered] all the Black girls that were in our basic training class and she told us, ‘Y’all got a hard road ahead of you. Being short, being Black women, especially being a short Black woman, I know what it’s like… The army is very male-dominated. And you’re going to come across a lot of scrutiny.’ Even wearing makeup, because I remember that day she wore makeup."
I did work with a woman who went to the salon religiously, but she had to bring her own perms to the salon because they didn’t have them there."
And I know this because I remember there was a girl who… was new to the army and I think she had a ‘bad weave’… She was natural, but she had a sew-in, [and] you could see her edges were ’nappy edges.’ There’s nothing wrong with nappy, kinky edges! And I remember one of my sergeants came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you need to say something to her because her hair looks freakin’ crazy. You need to show her how to take care of her hair properly. I mean look at you. Your hair always looks nice.’
I never did say to her, ‘Girl, you need to [fix your hair]’ because I’m not going to tear down another sister, especially when there were only three Black women in the unit."
And it specifically at the time said no dreadlocks, whether it was pulled into a bun or not. And she said, ‘I’m not going to cut my dreadlocks.’ And I guess what she’d do when she got to drill, she would just wear her wig… I think her job was an administrative job, so it’s not like she had to be outside rolling in the dirt. So she was like, ‘When I go to drill I’d just wear my wig and call it a day.’"
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity
title: “As A Black Soldier In Iraq I Could Never Be Carefree About My Hair” ShowToc: true date: “2024-08-29” author: “Georgiann Hall”
The army is one of the few occupations where your boss can publicly denounce your hairstyle in front of your coworkers, and where choosing an unconventional hairstyle could threaten your career and livelihood.
Black army veteran Krystol Madison, who served from 2003 to 2011 and was deployed twice to Iraq, spoke to Revelist about the many challenges Black woman face when serving in the US and abroad.
Although today Madison is a makeup artist who boldly rocks her natural hair in an Afro, she knows what it’s like to search all over for a relaxer while in Iraq and be constantly scrutinized for her hairstyles by her male superiors.
This is Madison’s experience, as told to Revelist reporter Mary Anderson.
They [said] you had to maintain a professional [and] neat appearance. And it was the same way after training. It’s pretty much all the same stuff. They allowed us to wear cornrows, but even still, you had to put them in a bun in the back if your hair touched your collar."
And then after that three-month mark, that’s when my roots kind of started coming out and they [wouldn’t] lay flat. Once that three-month mark hit, I would get my hair braided and honestly when it came to getting my hair braided it was, ‘Oh, I hope I can find somebody that knows how to braid hair.’"
Yes, we were allowed to wear wigs, weaves, extensions, so long as it didn’t distract from the appearance of the uniform because I guess the purpose of being in uniform is to kind of blend in with our surroundings. We’re not trying to draw attention to anybody."
[I carried the rules with me] because that was something a [Black female] drill sergeant had told me about when I was in basic training.
Once we were all done with training and waiting to graduate, she [gathered] all the Black girls that were in our basic training class and she told us, ‘Y’all got a hard road ahead of you. Being short, being Black women, especially being a short Black woman, I know what it’s like… The army is very male-dominated. And you’re going to come across a lot of scrutiny.’ Even wearing makeup, because I remember that day she wore makeup."
I did work with a woman who went to the salon religiously, but she had to bring her own perms to the salon because they didn’t have them there."
And I know this because I remember there was a girl who… was new to the army and I think she had a ‘bad weave’… She was natural, but she had a sew-in, [and] you could see her edges were ’nappy edges.’ There’s nothing wrong with nappy, kinky edges! And I remember one of my sergeants came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you need to say something to her because her hair looks freakin’ crazy. You need to show her how to take care of her hair properly. I mean look at you. Your hair always looks nice.’
I never did say to her, ‘Girl, you need to [fix your hair]’ because I’m not going to tear down another sister, especially when there were only three Black women in the unit."
And it specifically at the time said no dreadlocks, whether it was pulled into a bun or not. And she said, ‘I’m not going to cut my dreadlocks.’ And I guess what she’d do when she got to drill, she would just wear her wig… I think her job was an administrative job, so it’s not like she had to be outside rolling in the dirt. So she was like, ‘When I go to drill I’d just wear my wig and call it a day.’"
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity
