Would you get your haircut by an ex convict?

[Chloe9]

Would you get your haircut by an ex convict? You don't get to know what they were convicted of, only that they spent time in prison and are fully trained and have been rehabilitated into society.

No it wouldn’t bother me. Although like others have said I wouldn’t invite them in to my home.

I use my local prison loads for car valets, buying plants and veg and enjoy a bacon sarnie in their cafe. All served by inmates.

Also go to a local cafe that only employs people with prior prison time or have been drug addicts. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Everyone deserves a second chance.

^Not everyone

To be fair, I get my keys cut at Timpson and they are well known for supporting people to get back in to work

Christ having your keys cut isnt the same at your or your kids hair 😂

Razor, scissors, right by your face and neck?!

Yes.

I work in a prison . It has various opportunities for education / work place training.
One of the courses is barbaring / hairdressing , and towards the end of the course and to pass exams they need to have real people to practice on.
I regularly have a cut and colour done in the prison. It's free and I'm still getting paid !😀

Fine by me. Thinking about it I'm quite surprised how many people I know who have done time. Double figures. None of them violent (or remotely skilled at hairdressing 😄) but if they were good with hair their record would definitely not be a problem.

Come on people. They aren't going to be recruiting Rose West down at your local Supercuts. It will be fine.

As long as they do it well I couldn't give a shiny shit. Having taught in prisons for years that's kinda they end game

Yep. In fact, I would actually be more likely to go to a business if I knew they were offering opportunities to help ex offenders develop skills.

Yes - we eat at a restaurant staffed by ex-offenders and the homeless so I don’t see how this is any different.

I think some people are over imagining what people go to prison for.

Only a minority have committed violent crimes and even those who have, many are no longer a risk to society when released so most ex offenders aren't going to be fighting the urge to ram the hairdressing scissors into their clients.

They could have been in for non payment of fines, benefit fraud, not sending their children to school, handling stolen goods or all manner of non violent offences.

I may have done already, I’m not in the habit of asking about my hairdressers criminal record! I wouldn’t care one bit if I knew they’d been convicted for a non violent crime, if they want to turn their life around they deserve a second chance.

I might have an issue if I knew that their crime was especially violent or a sex offence though. But I doubt these sorts of offenders are working in my local salon.

Surely the whole point rests on fully trained and rehabilitated.

If it was £12 for a women’s wham bam thank you cut, and they did it on the spot for walk ins with no appointments or faff, I reckon it could be popular as a salon idea

We have that in my town but it's £9 for a women's wet cut and cheaper for a man. It's always packed and they do a good job from what I've seen!

33% of men; 9% of women

Sounds much more realistic than the earlier stats, but I’m still surprised it’s so high.

And yes, would be fine with ex-cons doing my hair. Probably rather not know if it’s a violent crime though.

Depends what it was.
If it was not a heinous crime then yes I don’t suppose it would bother me really.
But if I had the option to know whether the crime was a serious one, then I will be honest I’d rather not if it was something I considered very serious.
But I don’t fully trust the rehabilitation system. For example the recent case of the nursery nurse Vanessa George, released with the opinion that she is no longer a risk.
Yet this apparently remorseful woman won’t even name which children she abused.
Cases like this give me very little faith in the system.

I wouldn't have a problem with it

I've got fine straight hair .. I love it short and blonde ... I don't give a fig about anyone's past if they are good at cutting hair and can do something with mine

Having a minor criminal conviction is not the same as being an ex-con. I'd be okay with it myself, assuming it was organised and properly managed. People make mistakes and bad choices and deserve a chance at rehabilitation mostly, although not for sex offenders...

wondered if I'd feel differently if they had scissors near my head!

Unless they're a serial killer they are unlikely to be compelled to stab you

Employed, housed ex-offenders are massively less likely to reoffend to sign me up. Especially as all the restaurants I frequent employ them. They can't get the staff otherwise, not out of lovely charity.

Yes. I get my keys cut / shoes resoled at Timpsons precisely because they are open about hiring ex offenders. Everyone needs an opportunity to turn their life around.

*I would not go anywhere near any such business or social enterprise unless:
The organisation was skilled and experienced in supporting ex offenders and addressed all their needs
They could assure me that none had been convicted of sexual offences or violence, especially against women. I would be very uncomfortable about such up-close contact with someone like that.

In general if the quality of service was good I would actively support such an organisation*

This.

Someone who has sexually abused women or children - probably not. I appreciate you might not always know who you interact with, but given the choice I wouldn’t want to interact with someone like that. “Rehabilitated” or not

Great question, OP.

I'm not precious about my hair so I'd be up for it. Timpsons are a great organisation that work really closely with agencies to help provide employment opportunities for ex-offenders. I think it's great. Reoffending rates are vastly different for people who move into gainful employment but people (as you can see in the responses above) are generally lairy about employing rehabilitated offenders so the more folk doing it the better. I'd support it on principle.

Having considered it carefully I'd specifically NOT want to know what their conviction was for. It'd just make me start thinking about the deserving and undeserving rehabilitated, which kind of defeats the point in rehabilitation as a concept.

My only request would be that they were not on the sex offenders register at the time of employment.

Yes, It wouldn't be an issue for me.

I do think most people deserve a second chance.

Most companies don't have to declare if their employees have a criminal record. How do you know one hasn't cut your hair, cooked or served you a meal, driven your bus to work etc already?