The same week his state outlawed racial discrimination based on hairstyles, a Black high school student in Texas was suspended because school officials said his locs violated the district’s dress code.

Darryl George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, received an in-school suspension after he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and ear lobes. George, 17, wears his hair in thick twisted dreadlocks, tied on top of his head, said his mother, Darresha George.

George served the suspension last week. His mother said he plans to return to the Houston-area school Monday, wearing his dreadlocks in a ponytail, even if he is required to attend an alternative school as a result.

  • @PsychedSy
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    210 months ago

    I don’t think you could get away with smelly, and I don’t see a problem with any non-dangerous haircut really.

    • Nougat
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      510 months ago

      I meant “smelly” in a personal hygiene kind of way, and school administration can most certainly take action to remedy a situation where a student is not hygenic.

      • @PsychedSy
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        110 months ago

        In a very specific personal hygiene way, sure. But there are situations where you’d end up with similar complaints if a white administrator approached a non-white student.

    • snooggums
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      510 months ago

      Smelly is subjective too, as someone using the proper oils for their hair could be called smelly.

      Smelly has been used for properly maintained dreadlocks that are far less noticeable than Axe body spray.

      • @PsychedSy
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        210 months ago

        Yeah. I know I have no way of knowing if it’s something that could be attributed to culture in some cases.

      • @[email protected]
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        110 months ago

        If my dreads smell of anything then it’s of janitorial lemon because I use washing-up liquid (excellent degreaser, very skin friendly, and aside from that scent completely residue-free, also, unlike specialised products (which are the same thing with different scent) dirt cheap).

        Dreads don’t take on more odour than ordinary hair, if you were at a BBQ and don’t wash you’ll get complaints from hungry people either way.