Learn All Hair Textures. No Excuses.
Listen. I have been a hairdresser for over 20 years now. In the early years of my career I had NO CLUE how to work with curly hair. Unfortunately the salon industry at large has always been biased towards smoother textures of hair normally found on white individuals (I am generalizing of course- but this is how the industry operated for far too long and still does in too many areas).
I started to become frustrated with the fact there seemed to be a huge divide in the industry and I was equally frustrated that I was part of the divide. I sat with those thoughts for a couple of years until it became clear what needed to happen - I PERSONALLY NEEDED to find a way to be educated. It struck me that it was no one else’s responsibility to teach me how to work with curly hair. I could not blame my education, I could not blame the system, I needed to figure it out if I wanted to see change happen. As a white person, I realized it was my responsibility to learn how to work with curly hair textures and do my best to correct the fact that I had not trained my team correctly up to that point.
I was excited, intimidated, worried, embarrassed that I was uneducated and concerned that I would mess up and say or do the wrong thing. I knew those couldn’t be my excuses for not moving forward though.
We started the journey by finding an educator to bring in that could teach us how to work with curls. We found Kyle Hunstberry from New Jersey (@milk.honey.hair on Instagram) and we brought her in for a two day class. We needed to understand how to shampoo, detangle and style curly hair so we asked her to do that on day one. On day two, she demonstrated how to cut and color curly hair on a model. We used all live models for both days and gave the models gift bags for coming in. This was the first step of the journey. This changed our salon’s in-house education forever. As a team, we understood so much more about working with curly hair and this was the information we needed.
We continued to learn more techniques including protective styling. Jasmine Ringold (@missjasminedoeshair on Instagram) is part of the Virtue Team and she taught the entire team how to do protective styling on live models. That also changed us forever. Now protective styling is part of our Apprentice Training Program.
I knew I needed more education and as a salon owner, I personally struggle learning when we are hosting education events so I went to London, England and took a 3-Day Afro Texture Cutting Class with Jennie Roberts (@jennierobertshair on Instagram). I was able to thoroughly understand curly cutting and Afro cutting. It was a truly transformative experience. I was a student among other hairdressers and we had the opportunity to work with amazing manikins and beautiful models.
If you are apprehensive about working with curly hair, have fear around it because of inexperience, or don’t know where to start, LEAN INTO IT. The only way is through. It is time to demand inclusivity in our industry and it takes all of us to make this happen. It is unacceptable to turn away a client because of hair texture. You can do this.
If you need resources or pointed in the right direction for education, reach out to me! I am absolutely here to help.
So much love to you,
Melanie
xxo