HK woman cop highlights ‘hair discrimination’

A senior Hong Kong female detective is asking the courts to declare a police order banning officers from dyeing their hair as ‘‘irrational and un-enforceable,’’ newspapers reported on Sunday. Sharon Lim, a senior inspector who wears light brown highlights in her hair, has filed court documents after her superior ordered her to remove the highlights and restore her natural colour, brown, the South China Morning Post reported. The police rule went into effect January 2001, which put Lim in ‘‘an awkward position’’ because she had her hair highlighted before joining the police force in 1987, the paper quoted the writ as saying.

‘‘As there was no dye of her hair colour available, the only way to comply with the order would be to let her hair grow out and then cut it from time to time, which she did,’’ the writ said. But Lim was slapped with a disciplinary charge on March 21 for disobeying to remove highlights.