To think this should be illegal?

[GoatMarmalade]

Firstly you've got "hair" and then you've got "Afro hair" like black people's hair is somehow not just normal hair.

And then to charge black people 50% more than white people for their natural hair?

Surely they are charging by how long it takes. That seems fair to me. A lot of people get paid by the hour.

Are you just looking to be offended here?
Ridiculous.

Have you seen the difference in prices between how much men pay to have their hair cut compared to women. Sexist. Disgrace. Make it illegal

Or long hair. My dd pays more than me for highlights because she has (naturally) long hair.

That Guardian article is about a child who grew up with everyone around her pretending she was white like her mum and supposed dad despite clear visual evidence to the contrary. Astonishing story. Its not surprising she had some upsets around her hair when people were pretending she didn't have Afro hair. It's not really the same thing.

Afro hair is difficult and time consuming to cut and style. It is a specialist skill. To pretend otherwise is ridiculous.

You'd have shit yourself if you saw what my sister had to do last week.

She's a hairdresser and I was sat in her salon. A lady came in asking if she could cut her son's afro hair. My sister had to turn her away - she doesn't know how to do it. She felt really really ashamed.

Should all hairdressing training include compulsory training on cutting Black hair? This is the only way I can see of stopping situations like your sisters, but even then, if she had covered it during training but not since would she be confident to do so? How would this work in rural areas where there would be no models available?

I really don't think there is a any shame in saying this is something I'm not trained to do. Not every hairdresser does perms, or certain colours.

It's a fact that afro hair is different to non-afro hair, and requires different skills. So it's not unreasonable to charge a different price.

Is it not just a time related cost? Hairdressers are trying to run a business and make money. That is how business works.

Provided its because of the extra time and skill needed then I have no problem.

I'm blessed with exceptionally thick hair - the thickest most hairdressers have ever seen. One even broke her scissors in it once...

I've had some terrible cuts and I'd far rather be turned away by an honest stylist who says they can't cut it than have it butchered.

As women we pay more than men. I have thick hair so have to pay for a double slot. I'm not any more offended by the Afro mention than those things.

My friend has to go to a specialist hairdresser to get her Afro relaxed and cut as most salons don't have anyone who'll know how to do her hair.

What about Afro hair salons? Can we make those illegal then if they are staffed by only black women with Afros and they don't know how to cut my hair?

Surely this is similar to how different medications are prescribed for people of black heritage to white? I'm thinking of blood pressure treatment specifically but I think there are also some heart medications too. It's not that they're getting second class treatment because of race it is that a different treatment is more effective on someone of one specific ethnicity due to the biological make-up. That isn't discrimination to treat people differently as it is acnowledging there is a difference and giving them an appropriate response for their body. Same here, a certain hair type takes longer to cut so it costs more. Pretending there are no differences at all isn't extinguishing racism, it's living in cloud cookoo land and simply introducing passive racism instead.

Yes, on this one you're being a bit silly, OP. Of course it shouldn't be illegal.

YABU, DP is half Jamaican and has Afro textured hair, it does take more time and effort and specialised products and techniques to deal with so charging more is a reflection of additional time and cost than dealing with non Afro hair. However I think a lot of the problem is that Afro hair is perceived as untidy if it is left in its natural state, I know no women with Afro hair who keep it natural, braiding, weaves, extensions and treating it to be straight is the norm, this is an issue imo, as just trimming the hair wouldn't take much longer, it's the fact it requires styling etc that it costs more. My DP was told by a friend not to go to his PGCE interviews with his hair natural as it 'looks messy' so he is paying the best part of £100 to have it braided as I am a bit crap at it (I have practiced on DP in case DD wants braids when she is older and has a bit more hair) The perception of natural Afro hair as wild/messy/untidy/unprofessional is what forces some black people to chemically treat/braid their hair, and this is something society needs to tackle as that is inherently racist. Of course some people chose to do these things as they prefer the look, but choices are not made in a vacuum.

People are talking about eleaborate styling, that's not what the price is for. It's for a cut. Elaborate styling of any hair would be obviously more. And I do think it's discriminatory that salons charge more for women than men for basic cuts. How is it not so? If a woman goes in for short back and sides same as a man she shouldn't pay a woman premium.

If a woman goes in for short back and sides same as a man she shouldn't pay a woman premium.

Of course she wouldn't. Assuming she would go to a barbers (that accepted doing ladies hair, as some don't for some odd reason) and asked for a short back and sides they would charge her the normal rate of £5. I've seen it happen loads of times at my old barbers.

Very few women go in for a short back and sides though.

Almost always womens hair takes more time and skill than mens hair, the same is true for afro hair vs non afro hair. it is completely reasonable that people pay more for a service that takes longer and needs particular skills.

I used to work with a woman who chose to keep her hair very short (like a grade 2 all over). She paid for a proper cut and had it done with scissors instead of having it shaved quickly and cheaply like men might.

The inconsistent use of hair cut and Haircut, trim and Trim offends me.

Actually Shane all black hairdresser will be trained to cut non-afro hair as it is seen as the default in normal training. You have to specialise in afro hair after you learn the basics. So you could get your hair cut in a black salon, it would just take frickin ages.

YABU
It just takes longer to deal with as many posters have verified, don't make something out of nothing.

I do love a

Aibu?
Yes?
No I'm not.

It's clearly due to the expertise and time it takes. There may be only one stylist who is trained and he or she is senior, even if not, a basic cut will take longer. It's not any more discriminatory than my hair dresser charging me more than my husbands barber changes him, even if they work out the same salon.

Elaborate styling of any hair would be obviously more

Ok, I'm guessing you don't know how long hairdressing works.

Price tends to be due to complexity and time taken. It also is based in the seniority of the stylist.

So a mans hair cut is often much less than a woman's, even when neither is elaborate. Because usually a mans hair cut is quick. Usually when I'm in the salon if a guy comes in at the same time as me, he's paying and leaving before mines even half way cut. Never mind dried or styled. So I pay more. I don't scream discrimination.

Then if I use the senior stylist I pay more than if I used the junior stylist.

You pay for what you want done, how long it takes, the expertise required as well as the seniority of the staff member doing it.

It's not discrimination, it's simply time and expertise required.

There is a unisex salon I know of that doesn't cut women's hair if it isn't African hair. Someone went there and was told "We don't do white women's hair". She was outraged. I am tempted to go there to find out if it is true.