This is outrageous! A dentist denying service to people wearing bonnets. Never mind that dental patients may be in too much pain to fuss too much with their hair and general appearance.
As a boomer, I don't care for some of the fashions nowadays. Scanty or skin-tight clothes, saggy pants, pajamas, facial piercings, etc, are not my cup of tea -- on anyone, regardless of their color or hair texture. However, I MYOB and respect other people's choices. Maybe some people don't like the way I look going out either -- I don't shave or wear makeup, and I go for an androgynous look. Yet-- don't we have better things to be concerned about?
Earlier in my life I fell in with a religious group which required head coverings in public. After leaving that group, I briefly stopped covering my head, then resumed this practice because I feel naked and exposed if I go out bareheaded. So I have a nice collection of hats and scarves. When I started covering my head again my father (RIP) was outraged. "You're not gonna start covering your head again, are you?"
I was grown so I decided to stand up to him for once. "It's my hair and my head and I can do what I want with it." He made a sour face and left the room.
Background information: my family thinks we're white. Even says so on my birth certificate. However, they got very upset when I started tracing our lineage and focused on my father's side. I soon found out our secret: we are passant-blanc Creole from New Orleans. I found cousins on my father's side whom I'd never met, and there was no way they could pass for white. When DNA testing became affordable I had mine done and found confirmation of our mixed heritage.
Continuing my study, I found out about the tignon laws in Louisiana. Creole women who could not pass the paper bag test were required to cover their heads in public. (I pass the paper bag test in winter but not in summer.) So it seems that my father was outraged that, by wearing a scarf, I was disclosing a family secret.
Know what? Tough titty said the kitty but the milk's still good! Finding out about the old tignon laws gave me an additional reason to cover my head. Solidarity.
My father has passed on, and it's my belief that after we pass on we meet with our ancestors and guides and review the lessons of that life. I hope my father has broadened his mind by now. We got more important things to be concerned with than how someone else decides to dress themselves.
