All UK hairdressers to learn to cut and style Afro hair as standard

[RedMarauder]

Just read this article -
metro.co.uk/2021/07/01/all-hairdressers-to-learn-to-cut-and-style-afro-hair-as-standard-14857191/

It's taken until 2021 to do this.

I lived in a Nordic country in the early 00s where there was a handful of black people yet didn't have the same problems as I have in the UK.

I think that’s fantastic- a long time coming.

Slightly on a tangent but I wonder what the curriculum is for beauty schools and skin care/treatments. I don’t venture into a salon very often ( even less these days!) but when I did I always wondered how often the treatments had been practised on MR skin. I have in the distant past volunteered at a local collage when they asked for volunteers for their beauty class. I think I only had to pay about £1 and the student was supervised doing my facial.

I think if this curriculum is going to lift off more BAME people will need to volunteer to go to colleges to be practiced on. My weirdly fine, poker straight MR hair would be something to work on!

If this going to happen. The one downside is the black hair dressers already struggling with the changing times will be affected more in the UK. I hope they find away of broadening their skills and not being swolled up.

Overall, this will be great for us

I have a question: there's an Afro specialist hairdressers near me. Is there a risk that if all hairdressers can cut Afro hair, it'll drive businesses like this one (which is run by black women) out of business?

Genuine question, obviously it's good to have more choice and also I'd imagine it'll take most hairdressers a while to get good at it!

Cross post with debbrianna there!

The other way to look at is that those that currently work is salons specialising in black hair would hopefully be able to work in other salons as the business grows. Some salons hire out. “Chairs” to specific stylists I believe. My sister in law goes to a colourist at one salon and a cut at another maybe there will be scope for that?

Maybe our children won’t go to need to go specific hair dressers- maybe in time this will mean we just go “to the hair dresser” and there will be someone there with the skill set to suit our needs. Which in my family is about 4 different hair types!

I truly believe utterly will kill the very little that I'd left. The Internet/youtube was the first wave in change, then came lace wigs. Most not wanting braids which is the biggest money earner for most..the London gentrification in areas like Hackney, Dalston and Brixton etc..

The women didn't evolve first enough with the change. For some, these were the only skills they had that you didn't need training for.. they didn't open websites to bring in more business.

It's one of those situations where I feel.sad and happy at the same time..

Interestingly, Amozan is opening a walk in salon near London Bridge. Has this got anything to do with the change by any chance? 🤔

I'm pretty sure people will still visit the hairdresser that wanted to do it, not the one that had to do it.

I'm optimistic that this will be a positive for the smaller black hairdressers. They can recruit directly from the college's running the courses, offer apprenticeship etc.

Who knew! Perhaps this is why every single hairdresser I’ve taken dds to in the last 7 years has been absolutely terrified as soon as we walk in through the door. It’s either that or I get “we don’t do that type of hair here” all big national chains too.

Its the fourth time that I’ve had to politely refuse to leave the salon and effectively guide the senior stylist how to handle dds hair. I was embarrassed and furious in equal measure. Both dds are mixed, so you would have thought that 3A and 4A type hair was a relatively common hair texture, clearly not.

I actually disagree - hair cutting is about experience. Just because someone has a qualification in Afro hair, doesn't mean they'll do a good job cutting your hair!

If that same person works in a white neighbourhood and has a black person come in once a year - how much experience do they have? Zilch.

I'd rather go somewhere that's regularly dealing with black hair, personally

I think most people (well people I know) would still stay loyal to their current hairdresser. I would feel nervous going somewhere they got qualified in my hair because they had to rather than wanted to. If that makes sense.

Considering how shit white hairdressers are at Indian hair even when our texture is almost the same as white hair, I doubt this will impact black hairdressers other than allow them to gain recognised qualifications and allow them to work at big name salons. In fact I think many salons may recruit more black people because they must know that is the only way to tap into this market.

Would be nice if they could cut, or more accurately style and finish curly hair too! I have never come out of a salon happy with how it looks. I've been advised an Afro hair specialist might be better for my hair

(I'm white but curly, thin, brittle hair)

This popped up in active but I was surprised when I learnt that training hairdressers to cut and style all kinds of hair didn't happen already. It's a big part of their training that's being neglected - if I was a hairdresser, I'd feel like I hadn't been taught everything I needed to know in order to do my job properly, if customers were walking in and I didn't know what to do

I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Of course there'll be an adjustment period but if in 10 years I can wander down to my local hairdresser to get a trim then that would be an amazing luxury.

The amount of research it takes to find an experienced Afro stylist is ridiculous. I don't trust anyone to touch my hair at the moment so it's very much a YouTube-guided DIY affair, unless getting braids which I have a lady for.

It was only recently that you couldn't buy afro hair products in Boots / Superdrug etc, so it's good to see even small signs of progress.

@HouseyHouse21 to be fair with Boots they did try in the 90s in some places - I know because I lived walking distance from one and a bus ride from another one - however they were selling afro hair products at 2 times the price of other retailers so no-one brought the products.

There is still a mark up on the afro hair products that both Boots and Superdrugs sell but now it isn't 2 times the price. Plus I noticed last week the products are appealing to a wider audience than just those with afro and curly hair.

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

I have a question: there's an Afro specialist hairdressers near me. Is there a risk that if all hairdressers can cut Afro hair, it'll drive businesses like this one (which is run by black women) out of business?

Genuine question, obviously it's good to have more choice and also I'd imagine it'll take most hairdressers a while to get good at it!

This is my concern also. On the one hand I see that it would have some positives, but I cannot help but think that somehow it will end up with other people making lots of money from us in the future, but it will not be the black businesses that will benefit.

When I trained as a hairdresser we asked about Afro hair
(We passed on doing real life clients)
We where told that ‘there just isn’t enough clients for you all to work on’
And ‘don’t cut it wet’
I’m not sure how they’ll do this on real life people-in the 3 years I did the course,none of us saw a whiff of Afro hair

I think there will always be a market for Afro hairdressers irrespective of others becoming trained. I very much doubt your salon chains will start doing twists or box braids anytime soon. IMO its far more complex than just cutting hair, it is for me anyways. I want to go somewhere where I feel genuinely included and not an afterthought. Where they know how to handle my 4C natural hair. If it weren’t for my dds, I wouldn’t ever set foot in a chain salon.

That being said, I think black hairdressers still have a very long way to go in terms of service and offering, therefore competition can only be a good thing in raising standards.

I can't imagine them relaxing hair and doing braids though, so I don't think this will affect black businesses. I'm amazed white salons haven't tried to tap into this market before- we spend a bloody fortune on our hair!

@HmmmmmmInteresting there are random white hairdressers who do.

I wonder if they will start widening training for makeup artists too - some makeup artists still seem to struggle to match darker skin and make it up correctly.