A California woman has sued Walmart, accusing the nationwide chain of racial discrimination because her local store keeps African-American personal care products locked up in a glass case.

The woman, Essie Grundy, said she felt humiliated and discriminated against when on three occasions this month she had to ask a store employee to unlock the beauty supplies, including a recent occasion during which she had planned to buy a $0.48 comb.

“I was angry, I was sad, frustrated and humiliated all at the same time,” Ms. Grundy said in a telephone interview on Monday night.

Ms. Grundy said that in early January she went to the Walmart in Perris to buy a body lotion by Cantu. That’s when she noticed that all the products “targeted at African-Americans” were locked in a glass case, “from the middle of the aisle to the end,” she said.