Tabitha Brown is known and loved for practicing self-love on the daily, and teaching her 12 million plus followers across platforms all about having faith and perseverance, paving your own unique path to achieve your dreams, and being your authentic self along the way. And that's why she's partnered with Dove for our #AsEarlyAsFive campaign – a campaign designed to shed light on the incredibly young age children with Black natural hair are having to deal with hair discrimination – and the lasting impact this can have on self-confidence and self-esteem. Our latest study reveals that 53% of Black mothers, whose daughters have experienced hair discrimination, say their daughters experienced the discrimination as early as five years old, and 86% of Black teens who have experienced hair discrimination have endured it by 12 years old. The need to come together to change this – and protect the next generation – is real. No child deserves to be punished for embracing natural hair.
Tabitha Brown joins forces with the CROWN Act
She’s lovingly known as “America’s Mom” – and for good reason. Tabitha Brown has been teaching us all how to love – and feed – ourselves through her wholesome, comedic presence on social media, full of joyful life advice and yummy vegan recipes. And now, she’s joining forces with Dove and the CROWN Coalition, partnering with our #AsEarlyAsFive campaign to help make race-based hair discrimination illegal in all US states. Tabitha shares her own experiences of loving her Black natural hair, as well as the hair bias she’s faced along the way. We’re so proud to welcome this inspirational actor, author and advocate to the #DovePartner family.
We’re so grateful to have the support of powerful and influential voices like Tabitha’s:
You know, when I heard about the CROWN Act years ago, I was floored. I knew instantly I wanted to be a part of making this change and getting this passed every state [...] I’m so grateful that it’s happening, but I also feel very sad that it has to happen. That means something terrible exists.
Tabitha herself says she had a great relationship with her Black natural hair growing up, and loved to experiment with her different hairstyles:
I wore a lot of braids and plaits, and I had a lot of hair. My mom would be like, “Girl, this hair's like two big pom-poms,” when I did poufs. But I went through all of the things, especially being from the South, that a lot of us went through. As a little girl wearing all the barrettes and the ponytails and things like that. And then went through the whole Jheri curl phase
As an adult, she reflects back on the microaggressions, hair discrimination and hair bias she experienced at school, unaware at the time of the immense and lasting impact this can have:
I do also remember a time where we would get a little frowned at by certain people, like teachers, for those different looks. But it didn't matter because you're so young; you don't think about it until later in life. As a child, I was more free than before I allowed the world to condition me to believe that I wasn't
And when Tabitha learned that, in many US states, there are no laws to protect children – or adults – against Black hair discrimination at school or the workplace, she was shocked and determined to take action:
I had no idea that it was okay in some states for this to happen. I think out about my own personal journey and different instances where this has been my story more times than I can count. A lot of times when you're going through those things, it becomes so normalized to you that you don't think anything else of it. We've all been so programmed that this is just the way it is, that you don't think anything else about it, right? Even though we know it's wrong
Tabitha’s words remind us just how crucial it is to spread awareness of the issues Black children and adults are dealing with every single day. Join us in taking action. Sign the CROWN act petition to help make race-based hair discrimination illegal in all US states.
Hair discrimination happens as early as five
Write to or Tweet to your senator to help end race-based hair discrimination in your state.
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Ending discrimination against Black hair with the CROWN Coalition
CROWN stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World with NO RACISM. Through legislative advocacy and societal change, the CROWN Coalition is advancing efforts to end race-based hair discrimination.
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