Where can a Black girl get her hair done in Burlington? (Jamaica: hair salon, hairstylists)

[Hatless Wonder]

I just got a job in Burlington. I'm black, and I know Burlington has Vermont's largest concentration of Blacks. Can someone recommend a hair salon?

[MTK1]

Diversity Hair & Nails is an african american run hair saloon in Burlington. Its located at 94 Pearl St right before Dunkin Donuts just down from the top of Church St.

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by MTK1

Diversity Hair & Nails is an african american run hair saloon in Burlington. Its located at 94 Pearl St right before Dunkin Donuts just down from the top of Church St.

...a couple of blocks West (toward the lake) of the corner of Church Street and Pearl Street.

I'm sure there are a dozen other places, but this salon is easy to find and parking nearby should be easy. Remember that the City-Owned parking garages are free for the first two hours as well, which makes the haircut/errands/shopping /coffee combination in downtown Burlington all that much more convenient!

[harry chickpea]

I'm white. When I go to Jamaica, where can I get my hair cut? Offended? I hope so.

I don't mean to be mean, but Vermont has (or had) a sense of egalitarianism where it didn't manner the color of your skin or the doo of your hair. If you are going to be working there, why on earth do you want to encourage the idea of separate but equal with a question like that?

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I don't mean to be mean, but Vermont has (or had) a sense of egalitarianism where it didn't manner the color of your skin or the doo of your hair. If you are going to be working there, why on earth do you want to encourage the idea of separate but equal with a question like that?

I don't know if this is what the OP means, but I have piles of thick, dry, curly hair and many straight-haired people, no matter how "expert" in hairstyling, do not have a clue how to deal with it -- and they think they do. You know who knows how to handle my hair? Other curly-haired people and mothers who have children with hair like mine.

It's possible that a Black woman's hair needs to be styled by someone who understands how to work with it.

[chaz longue]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

I'm white. When I go to Jamaica, where can I get my hair cut? Offended? I hope so.

I don't mean to be mean, but Vermont has (or had) a sense of egalitarianism where it didn't manner the color of your skin or the doo of your hair. If you are going to be working there, why on earth do you want to encourage the idea of separate but equal with a question like that?

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I didn't read the question as evidence of a desire to self-segregate. The op isn't a guy who needs a person who knows how to use a clipper. The op is a woman, who may well have a hairdo which needs an expert.

I have a client who I represented when she purchased her home here, who used to drive to Montreal to get her hair done - not out of disdain for VT, (she loved it here) but because what she wanted to have done could be done there expertly and much less expensively. She probably found a place here which could do it for her, but it would have been a rare stylist here OR elsewhere who knew how to do it... So I didn't read the question as too terribly odd.

But again, perhaps I'm missing something...

[harry chickpea]

One of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen was a woman of mixed middle-eastern descent that I saw in passing in the University Mall in Burlington in November of 1974. Stunned that I can place it that exactly? One of her primary features was thick, dry, full, and extremely curly hair (which I normally do not appreciate). Somehow, she managed to survive and thrive in Burlington pre-specialized hairdressers. Kapeesh?

I understand that particular body types require particular clothes, some hairdos are culture-centric, and that there can be a joy in expressing uniqueness and ethnicity. The issue to me is flaunting "you're not good enough to deal with my hair" in a society that makes extreme pains to avoid the entire idea of "you're not good enough."

I point this out, not as a put-down of the original post, but as an idea that the cultural shift required for full assimilation takes an effort on all sides. If the OP doesn't want that, fine. She just needs to understand that her question can be as offensive to a few Vermonters as asking "Where can I get a good pig ear sandwich?" is to some blacks. I've eaten and served pig ear sandwiches, so don't go there.

I'm sure there are any number of salons in Vermont that have people who know how to deal with curly-haired people. I wouldn't have reacted as strongly had the first response not been so culture-centric and the couplet of posts appearing so exclusionary.

Sorry, but I was brought up to understand just how people unintentionally alienate themselves (which I'm likely doing to myself now.)

[kinkytoes]

OMG Well, most black people like to go to salons with blacks. I'm sure any cosmetologist can apply a relaxer, though. Right? And black hairstylists ruin women's hair every day. I have seen lots of women with hair missing around their hairlines from burns. Therefore I'm sure a hairdresser of any color can do ruin your hair equally well. Down here in the south, if I ask for a white hairdresser to do my hair, she will probably say she doesn't know how to do "black" hair. Which, as you indicate is retarded. Nevertheless, that's what most of us are used to and a black woman will usually look for a black hairstylist.

[chaz longue]

Ok then...

Deep breath. Group hug.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by chaz longue

Ok then...

Deep breath. Group hug.

LOL, Nah. I've already have been doing that, just in a way that a lot of people don't expect or understand. I'm proud of the responses as well. I'll try to explain a bit. My point was not about the individual hair, which I only used just to point out a couple of issues that a lot of people aren't willing to bring up in mixed company. I'm uncouth enough and seen enough posturing that I don't let that stop me.

The U.S. claims to be a cultural melting pot, and Seattle and Burlington try to vie for the title of most inclusive, so when an individual asserts their individual culture and separateness, there can be a stunned silence, as the internal processing of the local listener goes "maybe this person DOESN'T want to be included?!?".

That embarrassment can turn into a type of shunning if not handled quickly and properly. I've seen the curtain of impassivity drop across more than a few Vermonter's faces when confronted with different cultures, and I've also seen a few skillful people break through that curtain as if it was wrapping paper on a present. Our family used to host international exchange students, and the diversity of personalities was joyous. Some of them made tons of friends, some none.

Individuality and cultural idioms can be fun. It takes a few lifetimes to get a balance between inclusiveness and individuality. Parts of Europe still don't have it, after centuries of battles and grudge matches, and there are some extremes of culture that will likely never be fully integrated into our own society. In commenting on a choice of hair salons, I might seem to be splitting hairs, but I'm not. I'm remembering a couple of the exchange students that had a miserable time in the state.

A hairdo is as important to the state of cultural relations as a flea speck is to a mouse. What a flea speck usually indicates to the smart mouse though, is that there is probably a dog or cat around somewhere. Ruminating back through my initial responses, I realize that I had a sense of a person coming into the area who held tightly enough to another culture that she was about to block the experience of the place itself, and that was being reinforced. There obviously isn't anything morally or ethically wrong with that, one can find McDonalds in Mexico, and dine there exclusively. It just isn't as fun as exploring around, even if you do risk Montezuma's Revenge or a bad 'doo.

In short, the exchange students that lived in a shell didn't have nearly as much fun as those who broke out of their shells and embraced the different culture, and the locals had a heck of a lot more fun and cultural learning with them as well.