Issue link: https://www.ahpindiestylist.com/i/1511260
N ot a m e m b e r ? J o i n at a s so c iate d h a i rp rofe s sio n a ls .c o m 39 You are a helper at heart, by trade in fact. The reason you rst wanted to get into the hair business was probably the idea of helping others and experiencing that rewarding feeling of watching a client leave with a con dence-boosting chop or a vibrant, eye- catching color. The last thing you'd ever want to do is make your client feel small, like they don't belong, or as though you're not helping them in the way they want help. So nothing should stop you from helping them, right? There are many ways you can create a warm and comforting environment for your clients. It can be as easy as offering a kind smile and a listening ear. But there's also a way to go the extra mile—by doing something that shouldn't even qualify as going the extra mile—gender-free pricing. As you know, pricing for haircuts has been traditionally based on an assumed gender binary: men's cuts and women's cuts. The unspoken rule has always been that men's cuts are shorter, so they must take less time and therefore cost less, while women's haircuts are medium-length or longer, so they require more time and must be more expensive. But this made-up rule for pricing no longer serves anyone—neither the client nor the professional. In fact, it may be costing you return clients and building an invisible wall around your services. There are two truths we must accept: (1) We live in an ever-changing society where people don't t into the boxes created a long time ago, and (2) Hair is just hair. It can be long. It can be short. It can be pink. It can be brown. It can be curly. It can be straight. But it doesn't have a gender. by Jen Anderson Photography by Jas Kitterman and Lenny Gilmore The binary pricing structure doesn't benefi t clients or professionals, so why is it still the norm? The rst truth can be hard for some to accept, especially since binary gender expression has been drilled into our heads for generations. But there are so many ways for people to identify and express themselves, and hair is one of the most important and immediate ways they can do so. "In our society, we're really starting to push these binary constructs and rigidity of expectation," says Abrean SophiaMarie, a cutting specialist and the owner of Hey, Hello in Denver. "Whether it's gender, sexuality, identity—all these forms of expression and existence—but we still have a lot of xed standards." Industries outside hair are already starting to remove these xed standards. "In fashion, obviously [gendering] happens, but it's starting to become more uid; there are now so many nongendered clothing lines," says Jamie DiGrazia, owner of Logan Parlor, a Chicago salon and barbershop. In 2019, there was a 52 percent increase in searches for "genderless" and "gender-neutral" fashion. 1 Further, 2022 research found that 56 percent of Gen Z consumers shop outside their "designated gender area." 2 According to DiGrazia, the hair industry can easily follow in fashion's footsteps. "We just need to right-size it, take it back, and shake it up, because gendered pricing is really an unnecessary thing that we're doing; it could be really harmful to people who don't live in or express themselves in the binary."