Ergonomic hair designs that make hard hats safer for Black women in construction.
A solution born from culture, not despite it.
A solution born from culture, not despite it.
With the hard hat designed in 1919 by men for men, its safety does not accommodate natural hair for Black women in construction.
This forces them to choose between safety or cultural identity.
So, we used the unique structure of natural
hair as the foundation for innovation, and the solution itself.
AfriSam, one of Africa’s leading suppliers of construction materials, is built on a firm commitment to its “Safety First” policy. To bring this to life in a more inclusive way, we partnered with AfroBoutique—South Africa’s leading natural hair experts—to bridge the gap between safety and cultural identity on work sites.
By combining the creative expertise of natural hairstylists with the technical insight of our safety engineers, we co-created a unique collection of protective Black hair designs. These styles are specifically engineered to enhance hard hat safety, while allowing women in construction to confidently express their cultural identity—without compromise.
Using existing hard hat fit standards as a foundation, we developed each hairstyle with four key safety criteria to ensure optimal protection without compromising cultural expression. Crown Clearance measures how well the hard hat sits on the head, aiming for minimal interference between the scalp and helmet for a secure fit. Hard Hat Support leverages the structural versatility of natural hair to enhance helmet stability, turning hair into a functional support system.
Collateral Hair refers to any hair extending beyond the hard hat—minimising this reduces safety risks and improves overall protection. Style Endurance assesses how well a hairstyle maintains its structure throughout a full workday, ensuring consistent safety performance from start to finish. These four safety pillars guide the design of every Protective Hairstyle — combining form, function, and cultural respect in one innovative solution.
Each style designed for use with specific work site occupations in mind, considering their immediate environment and potential work risks throughout the average day:
Step-by-step, self-application hair design tutorials.
Protective Hairstyles step-by-step tutorials are accessed right where the problem began—on the hard hats themselves. Now standard issue across AfriSam construction sites and available for distribution to sites across the continent, each hard hat features a scannable QR code that connects workers to a library of easy-to-follow styling guides.
These scannable hard hats serve as more than just safety gear—they act as on-site access points and a subtle form of ambient out-of-home media, delivering both education and empowerment directly to the people who need it most. It’s a small yet powerful design tweak to an otherwise untouchable safety standard.
