Two Canadian hairstylists comment on the Olympics ban on swim caps designed to protect natural, afro-textured hair.
When Black-owned, U.K.-based company Soul Cap put through an application for their swimming caps — which are specifically designed to protect natural, textured hair — to become certified to be worn by Olympic athletes, it was shockingly denied, in a move that the brand’s co-founders Toks Ahmed and Michael Champman are calling a “
.” Toks went on to question how “we achieve participation and representation in the world of competition swimmers, if the governing body stops suitable swimwear being available to those who are underrepresented?”agrees, saying “a ban like this tells the Black community that swimming is not for them.” She admits to having the same struggles that Soul Cap founders identified and eventually propelled them to create the brand.
Even more disturbing is the FINA committee’s reasoning for the ban, which says in part that to their “best knowledge, the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration.” The committee even went on to say that they were unsuitable because “the caps do not follow the natural form of the head.
The initial decision to ban the swimming cap came mere days after Alice Dearing became the first Black woman in Olympic history to qualify to represent Britain. It is a bleak reminder that even in the face of triumph, Black hair remains a target for discrimination and, at best, an afterthought — even on a global stage.
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