Cree Ballah, a 20-year-old university student and Zara employee in Toronto, was confronted at work over her “unprofessional” boxer braids, which were pulled back into chic ponytails.
“They took me outside of the store and they said, ‘We’re not trying to humiliate you, but we’re going for a clean professional look with Zara and the hairstyle you have now is not the look for Zara,'” Ballah told CBC News.  They then tried to “fix” her hair in the middle of a busy mall.
“It was very humiliating…it was unprofessional,” Ballah went on to say to CBC News. Apparently, Ballah had no warning that Zara would ever consider her braids unprofessional. According to City News, Zara Human Resources only told her to avoid unnatural colors in her hair. This didn’t stop her managers from attacking her perfectly acceptable braids, leaving her coworkers with brighter dyed hair alone.
“My hair type is also linked to my race, so to me, I felt like it was direct discrimination against my ethnicity in the sense of what comes along with it,” Ballah according to CBC News. Ballah describes herself as biracial. “My hair type is out of control and I try to control it to the best of my ability, which wasn’t up to standard for Zara.”
In a statement to City News, Zara said they have “no formal policy regarding employees’ hairstyles.” The clothing company also said that they would not tolerate discrimination in Zara. “We have engaged directly with the employee on this matter and respect the privacy of those discussions.” Ballah filed a formal complaint with Zara HR, but allegedly was not satisfied with the company’s handling of the issue.
Cosmopolitan reported that Cree is now figuring out if she’s going to stay at Zara or leave after this issue. Women deal with way too much discrimination, whether gender-based or racial, already. When you spend so much time and money on your hair, and make it as fabulous as Cree’s (CBC News says she paid almost $200 for her braids), no employer should ever try to “fix” it.Â