#BarberTalk by New York Barbers.
Today we are going to talk about a topic that we feel is important in a barbershop environment and can be helpful to discuss. The barber industry is based around a male clientele in a male-dominated environment, but there are plenty of female barbers who service these men. Something we need to keep in mind is how we approach and treat these female barbers in a barbershop. Firstly, a common misconception can be that female barber’s cannot cut men’s hair as good as a male barber could.
That is, as we described, is a big misconception. A person’s gender does not influence their understanding or ability to cut hair – male or female. So, the same goes if a male was cutting a female’s hair. Some of the best barbers in the world are female and some of the best women’s hairdressers are male! In saying that, most guys don’t even bat an eyelid for a female barber to cut their hair.
In fact, some prefer it. However, as we have noticed and we are sure plenty of other barbershops who have female barbers on their team have noticed, sometimes male customers may specifically see a female barber – but not necessarily based off how they can cut hair. Put two and two together, and it can lead to an uncomfortable situation/environment for a female barber, if that customer’s reason for seeing them is shown/verbalized. The goal of this particular blog is to raise awareness for a common issue in barbershops that a lot of female barbers have dealt with/deal with throughout their careers. “Boys will be boys” as they say, but gentleman: in this day in age we need to pay attention to what we say and how we say it.
Especially around women, in a professional environment where women are providing you a service like a haircut.
Here at New York Barbers, we have a duty of care to ensure our team can carry out their profession in a safe and comfortable working environment. It is our policy that we do not tolerate anybody making a team member feel uncomfortable, especially in regard to female team members, like in the instance we explained above. We hope that other barbershops and salons who see this can resonate on this topic and ensure you enforce a policy in regard to common issues like this.
Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoyed this edition of #BarberTalk by New York Barbers in Berwick!
