Black women take issue with new Army rule on hair
By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adapted by Newsela staff May. 09, 2014 4:00 AM

Jasmine Jacobs poses for a portrait at her home in Atlanta, April 2, 2014. Jacobs, six years into what she thought was a promising and long military career, said she was finally done in by the one thing that was always natural to her; her hair. Jacobs railed against a new policy that places heavy restrictions on how women can and cannot wear their hair in the military.

ATLANTA—Jasmine Jacobs, a soldier in the Army National Guard, knew that however she decided to wear her hair, it had to be neat. So, four years ago, when she decided to stop straightening her hair and wear a more natural look, she figured it would make her a better soldier. It would require less care, especially on maneuvers and drills. “I never had anyone say anything to me about my hair,” Jacobs, 25, said. “It’s never been out of regulation or interfered with my headgear.” That changed in April when the Army issued rules about how women in uniform can wear their hair, along with regulations about tattoos. The rules ban certain hairstyles, including twists, large cornrow braids and dreadlocks, that are popular among black women. That hit a nerve already made sensitive by generations of debate within the black community over what is “good” or “bad” hair.

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Petitioning The White House
Jacobs, who wears two-strand twists, launched a White House petition to cancel the ban. She argued that it punishes the more than 26,000 black women on active duty in the Army. The changes are “racially biased, and the lack of regard for ethnic hair is apparent,” the petition said. It received more than 17,000 signatures but failed to get the 100,000-signatures needed to trigger a response by the president. But it did get the attention of the Congressional Black Caucus, made up