A post has gone viral on Reddit after a woman shared that her boss told her she needed to dye her greying hair to "maintain hygiene" and to "make an effort to look professional."
Redditor u/seafoamglass wrote about the interaction and the events that followed, on the subreddit "Anitwork" in a post that has now been voted on over 23,000 times.
The woman explained that last summer she noticed her hair beginning to turn white rapidly though she is only 30-years-old.
"It does not bother me in the slightest and I never wanted to cover it with dye because I actually like it," she wrote.
She said her boss rarely makes an appearance in her office as he is "one of those people who inherited and only shows up at our workplace a few times a year." On a recent visit, the first time she'd seen him in a year, he pointed out her hair immediately with even as much as a "hello."
"[H]e asked 'what's wrong with your hair?' I told him that since last summer my hair had started turning grey," she wrote. "He said this is a workplace and I have to 'maintain my hygiene' and 'make an effort to look professional' because I'm representing 'his brand.' I work in an office space with 14 other people and I only interact with clients over the phone."
In 2011, the Houston Chronicle reported about a woman in Houston who claimed her employer fired her after refusing to dye her grey hair.
The incident happened over a decade ago in 2009 but rings true to the experience of the Redditor.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the woman's employer told her they wanted a more "upscale image" as the real estate firm she worked for was moving to a new headquarters. In addition to her hair, she was also told to wear "younger fancy suits" and fancy jewelry.
The woman was 52 and said she had started to go grey in her 20's and refused the company's request. By the following week, the Chronicle reported, she was fired and replaced with someone 10 years younger.
The company denied the claim saying her termination was because a client no longer wanted to do business with her.
The Redditor went on to explain that a few days later HR, who is the boss' brother-in-law, approached her to ask why she had not changed her hair yet.
"I told him you can't be serious right? And tried to explain how grey hair has nothing to do with hygiene or being professional. He said he gets it but his BIL told me to fix it because he wants me to 'be my best self' and if I don't comply he's gonna have to discipline me for insubordination," she wrote.
"Is that even a thing? What for? For refusing to use chemical products to alter my physical image to please my boss' male gaze?" the Redditor wrote.
Initially, the woman said the situation has led to her to decide to quit though in an edit to the post, after seeing what commenters had to say she said she decided "to stay and let them fire me."
She said she sent HR an email letting them know as well as contacted some lawyers to get a professional opinion for her to proceed.
"Two men in the office have grey hair/beard, I asked them if HR asked them to dye it, they laughed and said no but as some of you suggested I asked them again via email to have written proof of it," she wrote in the edit.
Commenters supported the woman saying her treatment was unfair, and possibly unlawful, with some encouraging the poster to collect a "paper trail" of the interactions.
"Email your HR guy and have him respond with exactly what they want you to do and why to get a paper trail then let them fire you and take them to court for discrimination," one commenter wrote.
"I'd let them fire me so I could collect unemployment and file a gender discrimination suit on their butts," said another.
Some even pointed out that the Redditor should visit a doctor to make sure the early-greying is not a sign of a medical issue. She said has now made an appointment to get it checked out.
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