On hair

As it's a Friday I thought I'd lighten the mood a little, with some thoughts on hair.

The BBC breakfast show (I do watch and read things that aren't related to the BBC, honest!) was interviewing some influential women about their hair. Or at least I think that's what it was all about. Why they like to straighten it, wear wigs etc.

I was a little suprised that they wanted to have an intellectual discussion on this issue, which was peppered by some quite sincere attempts to explore the oppressive ideology that says women, especially black women, must have straight hair. Why does Michelle Obama wear her hair straight when she could have an afro? Etc. The interviewee refused to bite however and simply said "I wear my hair straight because I like it like this. That's it." Oh dear, serious debate over.

I'd like to add at this juncture that I'm not as obsessed with the Obamas as it may appear.

I don't have any strong feelings on hair and I really can't, try as I might, bring it back to business. Oh, other than perhaps a memory of my previous job that has always amused me. A young colleague of mine who prided himself on being a little bit 'out there', did at one point grow a rat tail (you know, a long bit of hair that well, looks like a rat tail...). When he went to a sales demonstration sporting the new look, his manager got the rat tail and tucked it into his shirt collar. I think he was quite embarrassed.

So the moral of the story? Care about your hair. Especially in business. But don't think it means too much, it really doesn't.