In a viral TikTok series, a corporate worker shared that she wears purposefully bad wigs to work since her corporate office doesn’t allow her to wear her dyed pink hair out.
In the series, creator @emuhleeebee explains that she’s resorted to wearing “terrible wigs” to get around her office’s policy against colored hair. In one video, she’s wearing a blonde plasticky wig and a name tag that reads, “Ugly.”
@emuhleeebee & yes every wig has a different name #corporate #corporatelife #pinkhair #coloredhair #fyp ♬ I want to buy a gun – Teagan
“It’s giving blonde Linda Belcher,” a commenter wrote.
“SCREAMING. It is also giving coconut head from Ned’s Declassified,” @emuhleeebee added, making fun of herself.
In another, with more than a million views, she wears a short, light brown curly wig.
@emuhleeebee Replying to @punkyhaircolour 😌 #pinkhair #coloredhair #pinkhairdontcare #fyp #foryou #corporate #corporatelife #wig #badwig #badwigs #maliciouscompliance ♬ original sound – ab
In a follow-up video, @emuhleeebee explains that she wears the wigs to “combat the absolute ignorance of corporate not allowing pink hair.” She adds that she has three wigs she cycles through, and they are “equally terrible.”
In that clip, viewers can see @emuhleeebee’s actual hair, which is brown with dyed pink sections towards the front and ends. She also shows how she uses what is essentially a braid crown style to tuck her long hair under the wigs.
Combined, the videos have more than 1.4 million views and over a thousand comments as of Monday afternoon.
Viewers in the comments agreed that the work policy was outdated.
“Been there! Such an outdated policy. Same with making people remove piercings or cover tattoos,” a person said.
“My minimum wage job wouldn’t let me have a nose ring even though it was just a stud so I put large bandaids over my nose and they changed the rule,” another shared.
Per a commenter’s suggestion, @emuhleeebee made an Amazon wishlist called “F Corporate Bad Wigs Wish List.” The wishlist is a compilation of all the provocative wigs the creator aims to eventually wear to work. It includes a few spikey anime-style wigs, a mullet, a bowl cut, and a Grease costume wig.
While the CROWN Act—a legal measure that would protect employees from discrimination based on natural hair and hairstyles associated with race and national origin—has gained momentum across various states, it is unclear whether it would also protect employees from hair color discrimination.
The Daily Dot wrote about a woman in a similar situation, down to the hair color she was rocking. In a different video, Ellen (@shugga.shugga) called out the hypocrisy of businesses looking to hire but discriminating against people with colored hair.
“B*tch, my hair ain’t gone do the work. You worried about the wrong sh*t,” Ellen said in the video.
The Daily Dot reached out to @emuhleeebee via TikTok comment.
