Drexel Law Review Symposium: Weaving It All Together: Hair, Health, Law & Policy

Friday and Saturday, September 26 & 27, 2025

8:15 AM-5:15 PM

Sponsors:

• The Drexel Kline Law Review
• Drexel Kline Center for Law, Policy & Social Action (CLPSA)
• Drexel Kline Health Law Program & Vital Signs
• Kline & Specter, P.C.

Description:

In innumerable ways, hair matters. Hair is connected to our identity formation and expression, exercise of freedom, educational access, professional prospects, economic security, as well as our health and well-being. Hair influences society, law, policy, advocacy, and movements—contemporarily, historically, domestically and internationally.

The Drexel Kline Law Review in conjunction with the Drexel Kline Center for Law, Policy, & Social Action and the Drexel Kline Health Law Program is excited to host the first symposium examining the intersections between hair, health, law, and policy. This dynamic symposium, “Weaving it All Together: Hair, Health, Law, and Policy,” will explore these intersections.

This symposium is convening a diverse group of health care professionals, hair care professionals, researchers, policy makers, advocates and scholars from the U.S. and abroad who will interrogate the role of hair in law, policy, and advocacy.

Over the course of two days, symposium attendees will have a unique opportunity to hear a wide range of perspectives and expertise on the following matters (and more):

• hair care as health care;
• the ongoing chemical relaxer litigation;
• contemporary policing of hair, hair coverings, and other aspects of appearance in workplaces and schools;
• legal histories of policing hair;
• visual arts education, film, storytelling, and other media forms as advocacy;
• hair care matters in the provision of medical care and caregiving;
• policy proposals for subsidizing haircare expenses for employees and their dependents;
• the significance of hair in legal proceedings and decision-making;
• efforts to combat deregulation of braiding hair salons and the natural hair care profession;
• the significance of hair and hair loss to identity, emotional, psychological, economic, and physical well-being;
• the C.R.O.W.N. Act and parallel legislative movements in the U.S. and other countries to redress hair bias, discrimination, and its harms;
• corporate accountability for harmful hair products and hair technologies;
• governmental regulation of the sale and production of hair care products;
• the linkages between haircare, reproductive health, and health outcomes; and
• grassroots organizing, transnational advocacy, and coalition-building for legal, policy, and cultural transformation.

These rich, inter-disciplinary discussions will engage numerous areas of law and policy including but not limited to: federal, state, local, and transnational legislation and regulation; multi-district and class action civil litigation; health equity; reproductive rights; consumer protection; corporate governance and accountability; children’s rights; educational administration and leadership; professional education and licensure; family and domestic relations law; constitutional law and history; labor and employment; insurance and employee benefits; tax; human and civil rights movements; criminal justice and law enforcement; economic justice and equality; and participatory law.

Register

This two-day symposium will provide 7.5 CLE credits on Friday (6.5 substantive; 1 Ethics); and, for Saturday, 7 CLE credits (5.5 substantive and 1.5 Ethics). Breakfast and lunch will also be provided throughout the symposium.