If I had hair like yours...

I'm sure this topics has been discussed ad nauseaum but I had a recent occurrence. I would characterize my co-workers as open-minded. No one has made any comment about my hair other than to compliment it. They are the backhanded variety like: "Oh, you can do that cause you have that good grade of hair." or " That is cute on you but I couldn't do that with this( fill in the blank with negative adjective) mess". I just accept the compliments and move on

This past week someone came to work in a hat, a knit hat, a snug knit hat, a snug knit hat with a pom-pom on top! Needless to say, jokes ensued. She explained she was having a bad hair day. We suggested she just slick it back (as her hair is short). She said, "My hair is thick. I can't just slick it back between perms." We all sort of nodded because you can't tell a woman about her own hair. She then reached out and playfully ran her fingers though my twists and said, " If I had hair like this I could probably slick it back." I found the whole exchange sad. She's at work looking borderline unprofessional because she believes that straight hair is her only alternative. I thought to myself,you do have hair like mine you're hiding it under that goofy hat!