“I’ve had my hair dyed all different colours since working for Sainsbury’s, such as pink, blue and purple, but it’s been my latest green hue that caused an uproar.

My store manager has never had a problem with my appearance, but when I went to cover a shift in a new store, the area manager there pulled me to one side and said my hair was “inappropriate”. She then called my store manager and said he couldn’t let me back on my next shift until I’d changed it.

He did stick up for me explaining how I’d achieved 100% for customer service performance when we had mystery shoppers in store, and how hardworking I was, but it didn’t make a difference. I do understand there is a policy already in place, but it made me want to question the justification behind it. All the locals know me and I get great feedback from customers. It became a standing joke that my hair changes colour every week. Nobody has ever complained to management about my hair colour.

The response to my Facebook group has been great. There’s almost 600 members now and the majority have been supportive and think it’s ridiculous that Sainsbury’s are still judging workers based on their hair colour, or even worse, pre-empting what their customers will feel about it. Maybe people do look at shop staff with natural hair colours and think they’re better workers or more professional, but surely what matters is actually being hard working and professional, which I am.

One person posted on my Facebook wall, “Welcome to the world of work. Grow up”, which I did chuckle at. It sparked quite a good discussion about how this wasn’t to do with immaturity, but rather about challenging the policy. I’ve also been accused of attention seeking, being needy and wearing loud hair colours because I have no personality, which is rubbish.

At present, my hair is blonde because I wanted to keep my job, but I don’t really feel like me and I resent the fact I’ve been dictated to. Rather than write a letter to Sainsbury’s CEO, Justin King, and see it end up in the bin, I’m going to start an online petition with the aim of getting the company to review their policy on staff appearance. I think it’s misguided and outdated.”

Sainsbury’s response:
“Every colleague receives a handbook when they start working at Sainsbury’s. It outlines what colleagues can expect from us and, in turn, what the company expects from them. It asks that colleagues look smart and professional when they are at work, and that hair colour should be kept to natural looking colours. The handbook is discussed in detail on our induction programme that all colleagues attend, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise in this case.”

LATEST UPDATE: Since Erin began her Facebook campaign, Sainsbury's called her into talks to look at the company's uniform policy, and are considering making some changes. Nice one, Erin!