TSA Now Searching “Poofy” Hair. Have They Gone Too Far?

There’s no denying that after the Sept. 11 attacks, security increased at the airport. Now we can expect to take any metal objects out of pockets, jackets off our backs, and shoes off our feet.

But just how bad has security gotten?

Last month an elderly, 95-year-old’s diaper was searched while she was trying to board a plane to Michigan to be with her family during the final stages of her battle with leukemia.

And more recently in the news, an African-American woman has accused TSA of racial profiling after her “poofy” hair was searched.

Laura Adiele told MSNBC that after going through the full body scanner at Seattle’s Sea-Tec Airport, the Transportation Security Administration told her that her hair needed to be searched.

Really, TSA?

She claims that the administration required her to undergo the additional scan because she was Black.

"It's already uncomfortable to be going through a naked body imaging. For me, my hair is my breaking point,” she said on MSNBC's Jansing and Co. “I played the race card in this just because I looked around and didn't see anyone else being searched in that way. And, at the end of it, I had an African-American flight attendant come up to me and say that she's had this experience and that she's seeing it more frequently and that she thought I should complain about it." 

Whether it’s true that the particular security agents moved their rubber gloves through her curls because of her race or not, at what point is enough, enough? If body-imaging scanners costing taxpayers $3 billion dollars over eight years can detect suspicious objects through our clothes, then one would assume that it can x-ray through straight and yes, even “poofy” hair.

TSA is reporting that there was no wrong-doing.

Though their website states “head coverings” are subject to search, it does not reveal that hair styles are as well. Though it’s unfortunate that this happened to Adiele, luckily she had a natural-updo bun. Had this situation happened to a woman who just had her hair intrinsically styled however, let’s just say the passenger may not have been as cooperative.

Let’s get it together airport security.

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(Photo: REUTERS/DANNY MOLOSHOK/LANDOV)