California is set to become the first US state to ban racial discrimination based on hair. Last week, The CROWN Act was unanimously approved by the state Assembly after passing the state Senate in April. The bill now heads to California governor Gavin Newsom to be signed into law.

If signed, the CROWN Act – an acronym for “Creating a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural hair” – will prohibit the enforcement of grooming policies in schools and the workplace that discriminate against hair types and disproportionately affect black people. This includes bans on afros, dreadlocks, cornrows, braids and other traditionally black hairstyles.

The bill would update the definition of race used in laws to also include “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles,” thus extending anti-discrimination protections in the Fair Employment and Housing Act and the California Education Code to include hair texture and styles. In the past, Federal courts have ruled that the law protects black people when they are discriminated against for wearing their hair in afros, but not when they wear it in other natural hairstyles including braids, twists or dreadlocks.

“The history of our nation is riddled with laws and societal norms that equated “blackness,” and the associated physical traits, for example, dark skin, kinky and curly hair to a badge of inferiority,” the bill says. “This idea also permeated societal understanding of professionalism. Professionalism was, and still is, closely linked to European features and mannerisms, which entails that those who do not naturally fall into Eurocentric norms must alter their appearances... in order to be deemed professional.”