UK SALONS CHARGE EXTRA for AFRO
I read this article on the Guardian Newspaper online. It revealed how
Toni & Guy charge more to cut Afro Hair than they do for cutting European Hair.
It's an interesting and sad to see how having Afro hair is viewed as problematic by most Most High Street Salons in UK.Its a very old article and it'd be interesting to see if anythings changed.
Also, Read On - I thought the part about Toni & Guy being Nominated for Afro Hairdresser of the Year was pretty interesting....time to do my research and see who the other nominees were.
I copied and pasted the Article below and inlcuded the direct link below that:
So why do hairdressers charge more to cut afro hair?
When Anna Giscombe took her 17-year-old daughter to the Toni & Guy hair salon in Watford, she didn't expect much change out of £50. Told she would need the top stylist, Ms Giscombe agreed to pay the £48 fee. But, little over an hour later, she was charged £55. The explanation? Her daughter's afro hair "took longer to cut". She refused to pay the extra and left the salon so angry that she decided to contact Toni & Guy headquarters directly."I pointed out that a white woman was started slightly before my daughter and finished slightly after, but she wasn't charged extra. They said it was because my daughter's hair was 'thicker'. They didn't say 'thicker' than what or how this was measured," said Giscombe, still fuming.Does the company really charge more to cut afro hair? "Toni & Guy have a very clear price structure that reflects the 'level' of stylist and the length of the service ie time that stylist is with the client," says spokeswoman Karen Harper. "If a stylist is presented with a client with exceptionally long/thick hair (regardless of race) and the service given runs over the normal appointment time, a nominal charge will be added to the bill. This is standard industry practice and even exists in afro-specialist salons." Harper also points out that Toni & Guy is a current nominee for Afro Hairdresser of the Year in the British Hairdressing Awards and has recently launched a hair care range with the singer Jamelia.I called a couple of its salons, and, in the interests of fairness, Aveda and Vidal Sassoon, asking how much it would cost to have my natural afro hair cut and dried. Each time I was told it would require a specialist, and that the specialist was a senior stylist, and therefore more expensive.And herein lies the problem. Black people are constantly told their hair is "difficult" and charged accordingly. But is it really? What is the difference between afro and, say, curly Caucasian hair? "The hair cuticle is completely raised, and the hair is about two-thirds thicker," says Hairdresser of the Year nominee and previous Afro Hairdresser of the Year, Errol Douglas. "If you are using the wrong tools, you make it frizzy. You have to use different hairdrying nozzles, and a 100% bristle brush, and you have to have a lot of tension when you are cutting the hair."So is it any harder to deal with than Caucasian hair? Not at all, says Douglas. "It's great hair to work with, you just have to do your research."
www.guardian.co.uk
