PS - Saw a really cute video by a Black woman with 4B hair living in Japan and getting a blow out from a Japanese stylist who WANTED TO LEARN! He had never done textured hair, but said he got a lot of tourists in and specifically from a hotel with international clientele. She walked him through how to section and get it smooth. She said it wasn't the best blow out/blow dry she'd ever had, but he was so sweet she kept going back and he got better. Now he has a new skill, he can help people with textured hair, and she has a place she can go when she wants her hair done. Win/win/win. P Louise needs to staaaahp.

My money says their only "curly hair specialist" doesn't actually exist. 😑

PLouise chose to market it as an “inclusive” space but only has 1 curly hair specialist?! That’s ridiculous. Being inclusive would be all hairdressers having knowledge and being trained on all hair textures and types. Let’s face it, PLouise has enough money to hire people to provide this education so the fact she didn’t speaks volumes

I'm glad you're not only going after PLouise's 'inclusivity,' but also the lack of basic professional education available to UK stylists. "Curly hair isn't new, deeper skin tones are not new." :finger-red-number-one:

Don't call the service inclusive if you aren't going to be. And DON'T leave a client with her head stuck in a basin when you know you aren't going to do her hair.

I trained as a hairdresser only a few years ago and I didn’t get any training in curly/afro hair. Despite around 20% of the class having that hair type! I kept asking for it but they said it wasn’t in the curriculum and I could pay to go to a specialist course a few hours away. Truly unacceptable.

As a black girl thank you so much for this video Robert. I feel seen and understood

as a hairdresser i am pissed... i worked in Poland where it was rare to have people of color get hair done... not only we learned at school how to deal with curly hair (my mom had curly hair so i had chance to understand it more) but when a woman came to me and asked for haircut and was all scared because she had afro... i booked appointment with her for next day... and i spent all afternoon at home  reading and learning more about her type of hair... she was very happy with the results... it's not all that hard - putting effort into your work...

The same ppl who defend this are the same ppl who told black beauty gurus and customers in the 2000s-2010s that established BIG brands not having their skin color: "its just not for you" - "they barely have black customers why should they carry darker colors" BUT they blew up new SMALL black owned brands like Juvias Place and Fenty Beauty (in their beginning stages) for not having makeup for light skintones. We were calling out literal 30 year old brands for not being inclusive and getting told that "not everything is for you"

Hair stylists who can’t deal with curly hair should have to put “straight hair stylist only” on their page and bear the shame for the lack of education because it’s NOT the default!! Training programmes need to include all hair types this is insane! People need to be madder about this

As a Black woman, this sadly reflects a much bigger issue than just the PLouise situation. The lack of education and training excludes us from the beauty space. We often don’t even attempt to go to certain places because we already know there’s a good chance we’ll be turned away, and that is one of the worst feelings.

It looks like a Pepto Bismo liminal space nightmare.

Some states like NY and MN are now requiring cosmetology schools to learn now to do make up and hair on people of color, in particular those with Afro textured hair. LONG OVERDUE!!

I CANNOT stand this brand. I’ve done many videos about it. They should be EMBARRASSED by this!

After THAT child's party fiasco, I am not surprised by this. The vibe I get from this brand is UK Tarte

People say "curly" hair as a way to be palatable. As someone who has afro textured hair there's a HUGE difference in taking care of curls vs Afro curls. The lady in the video is either black and/or mixed, she has afro textured hair and unfortunately salons don't place value on knowing how to take care of our hair.

I'm not in the UK but even outside of New York, every licensed black stylist I know of could do the hair of non-black people but few non-black people can do our hair. It should be legally required and eventually over time as new people come into the field they'll be able to provide services to anyone who shows up not just non-black people. Also, I would much rather a stylist tell me they can do my hair and let me find somewhere else than to play around in my head and mess it up.

Edit to add: Thank you for being a voice of reason and being a council member and actually pushing for changes that help ALL of us not just certain demographics.

Former hairdresser here as well as a curly mop. This is so incredibly unprofessional.
Edited to add: I'd toss in bigoted ignorance, too.

Curly haired women, no matter their ethnicity, will be your best customers when you are proficient at styling and cutting their hair and you treat them well

When I was working in a salon my favorite colleague was the curly hair specialist and her customers were simply the coolest. Many times they left the salon with new confidence and a new guideline on how to care for their beautiful hair

I have memories of a confident and stylish friend of mine coming back to our dorm crying one day, because a hairstylist had completely ruined their 4c hair, putting straightening products in and scolding them for having hair so curly. It broke my heart, to see such a kind and beautiful person crushed because the stylist thought their hair was "wrong" and needed "correcting", that this stylist had the audacity to work on a head of hair they clearly could not handle. In this day and age, if you can't work on all hair types and you live in a place in the world where you can reasonably expect people of all hair types to need hair care services, you cannot call yourself a hair stylist. Honestly. Because this traumatizing, humiliating experience happens to so many beautiful black people who deserve to feel beautiful with the hair they have. Texturism is a poison.