This principal should pick her battles more carefully. I don't think she thought this through. Probably never had black friends growing up, or she would understand black hair.
What is it with religious schools and hair? BYU even shaved Brigham Young. If Jesus showed up at BYU, how would we know? He'd be booted from campus quicker than Joseph could hit on a coed.
I can remember seeing my UCLA classmate, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (known on campus as "Big Lew," due to his birth name of Lew Alcindor) with the first 'fro I had ever seen. He also wore long, flappy caftans. I was astonished. I had never seen such a thing before, in my lily-white hometown.
It's amazing to me that these administrators are naive to the fact that we live in an instant world. If you do something idiotic, it will go viral.
I have naturally curly hair, and when I was at Ricks College back in the 80's I was rocking a nice 'fro. I was called into standards and told to cut it.