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Standing Firm in Power and Pride: Shey Peak Jeffers’ Exploration of Black Hair and Workplace Grooming Policies

  • Written byS Cheevers
  • Published date 09 October 2025
Shey Peak Jeffers | Black Hair and Workplace Grooming Policies, BSc (Hons) Psychology of Fashion

Join us as we celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of the Black community this Black History Month, including our students, staff and alumni. This year’s theme is ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride,’ a tribute to the strength and resilience of the Black community globally.

We recently caught up with London College of Fashion (LCF), UAL student Shey Peak Jeffers. Shey’s final work, Black Hair and Workplace Grooming Policies, as part of her course BSc (Hons) Psychology of Fashion, explores how Black women in UK corporate workplaces experience and navigate hair grooming expectations. Through personal interviews, the work highlights how Eurocentric standards of professionalism can lead to pressure to conform.

What inspired you to focus on Black women’s hair experiences in corporate UK for your final project?

When I began my final-year research project, I knew I wanted to focus on something that carried both personal and collective significance: Black women’s hair in the corporate UK context, and how workplace grooming polices shape black hair identity. Over the years, I’ve seen and heard countless stories of hair being questioned, judged, or even deemed “unprofessional.” Those stories, combined with my own experiences, prompted me to delve deeper into how Black women navigate workplace grooming standards and what that means for their identity. I also wanted to explore it for my own personal understanding of the experiences of Black women in similar corporate workplaces.

How does your research align with the Black History Month theme of ‘standing firm in power and pride’?

This year’s Black History Month theme, ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride,’ could not be more fitting. For Black women, hair is more than appearance. History, culture, and pride are woven into every curl, braid, and loc.

Why do you think hair, specifically, is such a powerful site of identity and resistance for Black women in the workplace?

Wearing natural or protective styles in professional spaces often comes with risks, but it is also an act of self-affirmation.  It’s such a potent site of identity because it is visible, symbolic and deeply tied to heritage. It tells a story before a word is spoken.

Person smiling at camera with a tall building and grass in the background.
Shey Peak Jeffers, BSc (Hons) Psychology of Fashion, LCF

Were there any recurring themes in how participants connected hair expression to their sense of self or cultural pride?

Many of the women I spoke to shared how their styling choices carried a double weight: the need to “fit in” while feeling the desire to honour themselves and their heritage.

While some participants spoke about external judgment and scrutiny, they also celebrated the freedom, confidence, and cultural pride that came with embracing their natural hair. In those moments, hair became not just a personal choice but a powerful statement of resilience. What struck me most was how often hair expression is tied directly to a sense of confidence and belonging.

In what ways do you see your participants ‘standing firm in power and pride’?

The women I interviewed embody  ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’ every day, whether through wearing hairstyles rooted in culture (locs or braids), educating colleagues and challenging workplace biases, or simply refusing to apologise for who they are.

What message do you hope Black women in the workplace take away from your research?

Your hair is not a problem to fix, a distraction, or something to apologise for - it is pride, history, and power. Embracing your hair reshapes what professionalism truly means.

Check out some other LCF Student work relating to this month’s Black History Month theme:

Visit London College of Communications' Speaking from the Margins exhibition, on until 24 October, to explore what it means to define Black history collectively and critically.

London College of Fashion

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