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I am Caucasian with straight, thick hair. I used to live in a majority black community and tried the all black salons but did not find a hairdresser who could cut my hair correctly to save their lives. Plus they took foreeeeever to finish my hair. A simple wash/cut/dry would take 2 hours or more. I found an excellent Korean hairdresser with extensive training (Vidal Sassoon) who was the best. She told me my hair has the same texture of Asian hair; and it can be very challenging to trim/cut correctly. I have moved and stuck with Asian hairdressers ever since.
White lady here...I have wondered whether a black shop would be able to straighten my thick, coarse, wavy, frizzy hair. There was a local Jamaican shop near me that had a sign for some kind of straightening, might have been Brazilian. I figured if Oprah can have straight, swingy, shiny hair, why can't I? But I guess textures are different....maybe the products would work differently or more harshly on my hair. I have seen so many weaves and wigs that look sooooo much better than my hair!
As a former hairdresser (I'm still licensed, but haven't worked in the field for years), I might be able to add a little to the conversation. All the below is my opinion & personal experience, having worked in 1/2-dozen hair shops in multiple states & in the UK.
I'm white, went to a predominately black / Hispanic hairdressing school. Why? I wanted to work with hair I wasn't familiar with, so I wouldn't ever fear working on different textures of hair. My whole family has similar hair, so like many young kids who like to work with hair, I was accustomed to working with similar textured hair.
The best way to find out if a hairdresser can manage your hair is to ask what training they've had, in person. You can gauge if they feel confident or if your hair texture scares them. All hair textures can be tricky if someone is unfamiliar. And, like every profession, some aren't good at what they do.
For myself (long, straight, caucasion hair), I've found that most black hairdressers haven't had experience with it, so their trepidation makes me nervous. Since my hair's also very fine, I find someone who either has fine hair themselves (tons of layers make me look bald & hairdressers with thick hair don't seem to realize that unless they've worked with fine hair before) or advertises that they're fine hair specialists.
Again, in personal experience, I've seen that the majority of people I've worked on have medium diameter hair (not fine or thick) & have a medium amount of hair on their heads (not a thin amount or overly abundant head of hair). So, anyone who fell outside of those parameters might be unusual for hairdressers in the shops I worked in, unless they had previous experience beyond the "norm".
Asian friends only let Asians cut their hair. I've seen this in shops, too. Particularly with men's styles or shorter hair, if cut too short and/or not at the proper angle, it can stand straight up in a cowlick. So, they're more comfortable with other Asians cutting their hair. I worked in 1 mostly Asian hair shop & they did great with straight caucasion hair, too. Many men prefer to have a man or barber cut their hair. That's their comfort level... so be it. It's your money.
My personal preference is to find someone with hair like mine, because my hair is finer than many. They're fixing their own hair daily, so know what it's like to work with. This also carries through if someone wears extensions or wigs. I've taken advanced education classes working with hair additions & the best class was when we had to glue extensions into each other's hair (including the male hairdressers). Ouch! If you don't wear them, you don't know what's too tight or too loose & how awful either feels if not right... unless you've done so in a class. It was a great learning experience. So, if I wanted to wear extensions, I'd prefer to find someone who wears them & preferably similar to the ones I'd like to have applied.
Other hairdressers might disagree... we're supposed to be trained to work with all types of hair. In fact, I became a hairdresser as I had my hair ruined so many times... I do it myself & have for years. I'm talking about personal preferences. And, even though I'm white, when I worked as a hairdresser, I wasn't offended if a black/Asian/Hispanic/super curly haired person/man asked me multiple q's on my experience with their types of hair. If you ask q's & someone gives you attitude, there is no shortage of hairdressers on the planet... thank them & move on.
As an aside, I only turned away 2 people, but it's best to do so than to have an unhappy client or face a lawsuit. One was a white woman with super short, overly processed, thin hair & she wanted it bleached even lighter. She ruined it mainly by bleaching it herself... she did a horrible job. I told her it might fall out & would most certainly be damaged further. She left in tears (saying I wouldn't help her), I'm sure to find someone who did bleach it further... I wouldn't want to trust it might be okay. The 2nd was an Hispanic woman with the coarsest hair I've ever touched... it was wirey, dry, damaged & felt like broom bristles & I couldn't figure out why as it had no color or chemicals. She wanted a body perm & I was afraid because I had no idea how her hair would respond. Another hairdresser in the shop did it & it came out frizzier & dryer & had to be cut off.
If you feel uncomfortable for any reason, no matter your hairdresser's age, color, sex... leave. Ask for recommendations from those with similar textured hair, search for FBook, websites, social media, which often list experience, before/after pics & specialties & visit in person to speak to a hairdresser.
If you're not comfortable, move onto the next one. There are plenty of hairdressers in your city & probably most could help you. You can find brilliant people in chop shops (the walk-in, $20 clipper places) & awful ones in $$$ spa type shops. FYI, many hairdressers don't use social media, but that's changing with younger people coming out of school. And, yes, I would trust a black hairdresser to work on me as much as a white, Asian, male, etc... but, I'd need to speak with them first to ensure we both feel comfortable. Since I can do hair, I just do my own. Less stressful, less $$$ to leave my pocket.
I tried to one time because I was trying to find someone good to cut my daughter's curly hair. Called a girl based on a rec. from my friend. That stylist said she doesn't cut white people hair. I can understand that since white/black women have different hair needs.
One of my friends, who's black, suggested I go to her cousin's shop for a haircut. The shop was a busy place, but I had an appointment, so no waiting.
The owner of the shop (my friend's cousin) and a nice lady both sat down with me and asked what I wanted, and the lady gave me a shampoo, cut and style. It was fine, with no complaints at all. Everyone was professional, friendly, etc.
As an older white person, I've realized that there are just some places I should not go. A beauty salon that works with primarily African American hair is one of them.
If I did need a weave, I would consider going to a "black" beauty shop as I've seen some fellow employees with gorgeous weaves, the people putting them in, and also doing braids are truly artists.
I know they wouldn't be told to leave but can they go and get a haircut and highlights at a black beauty shop? There are several of them around where I live and I really need to get my hair done. But every time I look inside the window I never see a white girl so i don't walk in.
I know, might be a stupid question.
Thanks
There are other haircut places but I wouldn't mind trying something other than what Im used to.
Why not? For all you know they could be freinds with the owner. I would go where the talent is. If a place is packed then they know what they are doing.
I was visiting my sister in Dallas and only had a couple days to find someone to color my long, fine, blond hair. Every salon I could find was primarily black. They couldn't take me when I walked in. I finally opted for the franchise that is inside Wal-Mart. A black stylist with a blond wig colored my hair just fine, but yeah, it took a LOOONG time with probably 6 shampoo's. I got strange looks from the blacks who were waiting....but, it is a great color job. I too, was curious about the relaxers they use, as I hate my half-curly/ half-straight hair. I was getting the "Brazilian Blow-out" but its too expensive now in retirement.
I have long, thick, fine textured curly hair. Before I found Deva curl I would use some of the conditioners for afro textured hair that I got at a black owned beauty shop. It was a high quality product, but was somewhat too heavy for my hair.
I have had black women cut my hair, even if it wasn't a "black beauty shop". They knew how to dry cut curly aka "natural" hair before anyone else.
I just thought of this. Extensions. More and more women are getting them and black beauty salons are have been doing this for ages. I wonder if they were there getting extensions. I have naturally long and thick hair so that is not something I would need, but apparently lots white women are getting them now to give then a fuller hair look or the get suddent length. My cousin use to do that when we where in our 20s. I wonder if they were getting extensions done!
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