Rooted in the Community
A good hairdresser isn’t a person who can cut mechanically straight lines, and come out with the most perfect of colors; it is the person who knows you, and who will make you feel comfortable and cared for. Our hair means a lot to us. Just biologically, good hair is a symbol of good health; and a haircut can completely reinvent your style and self-image. As Coco Chanel said, “A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life.”
An Unexpected Relationship
Women (typically) will get their hair done before any monumental moment of their lives. When you make a reservation using the salon’s list — cut or blow-dry, full-head bleach, or just roots — there will almost always be a tailored bridal service. Hairdressing requires a returning customer base, and because of this many people have a friendly relationship with their hairdresser; they can become a confidant and an amateur psychiatrist.
To understand the client is to understand what image they would like to show to the world.
Thus, hairdressing produces a very different client-customer relationship under capitalism. The sociologist Helen Holmes explained that the relationship between hairdresser and client does not always conform to the scripted encounters attributed to other forms of service work, but can involve genuine feelings and individualized performances.
Socio-politically Significant
On top of this, hairdressers can have a momentous impact on socio-political movements.
Joan Johnson, co-founder of Johnson Products, the largest supplier of Afro-Hair products in the US, was an ambitious pioneer who recognized the political power of hair. Growing up in segregated America, she rebelled against white-centric beauty standards that pressured African-American women to straighten their hair. Black hair salons are now their own sacred spaces of women’s care and exist as shrines to Black beauty.
Hairdressers are also key in Queer spaces. For most members of the LGTQIA+ community, a haircut and coloring is a meaningful part of their coming out experience; a crucial demonstration of self-expression and acceptance.
A Community Service
Hair salons also play a key role in charities. For example, the salon charity Little Lady Locks, founded in 2018, supports children who struggle with hair loss. And has now helped more than 1,000 children find hair replacement solutions to boost their mental well-being and confidence.
The late Trevor Sorbie, a celebrity hairdresser who styled and cut hair for the Beach Boys, Grace Jones, and Dame Helen Mirren, was known for his ethos of care. He, too, founded a charity that provides aid to NHS patients on wig styling, hair loss, and hair growth.
The cost-of-living crisis in the UK has meant that some hairdressers, like Josh Humphries, have been volunteering at their local community center, providing haircuts to those who can’t afford them.
This isn’t to say the hairdressing industry is not without faults. Many will say that it is a space that is obscenely gendered and still retains exclusionary Eurocentric standards. But the spaces hairdressing has the potential to create, those of radical acceptance and vulnerability, are beyond wonderful.
