It really clicked for me when people would come in with naturally curly hair and ask, "Can you do this type of hair?"
Sometimes someone from a different background or culture thought they could only go to a stylist who was the same as them. There's a stigma that only one kind of person knows how to do one kind of hair. I don't think that should be the case.
Hair is like a fabric. All hairdressers should be able to work with all fabrics.
Think like a designer
Look at the best clothing designers. When they launch a collection, they combine cotton, leather, poly, all kinds of blends. To make something beautiful, you sometimes have to be able to weave those together. Nobody says a great designer only works in cotton.
Hair is the same. Curly, coily, straight, fine, coarse, dense, thin. Each behaves differently, and each has rules. But they're all hair, and learning how each one moves, stretches and dries is part of the job. It isn't a specialty you get to opt out of.
What it costs when you don't
Every time a stylist says "I don't really do that hair type," a client walks out feeling like they don't belong in that chair. That's a person who wanted to trust you and now has to go looking somewhere else. It's also money walking out your door.
It's in our best interest as hairdressers to be able to serve anyone. It's better for the client, and it's better for your book.
How we teach it
At Kaizen we don't split education into "curly people" and "everyone else." We teach all hair types because the fundamentals connect: tension, elasticity, how the hair sits against the skull, how it lives once it's dry. When you understand the fabric, you stop being afraid of it.
If curly hair is the fabric you've been avoiding, start with our curly hair cutting class. If you want to understand cutting hair in its natural state, look at dry cutting.
Nobody should have to ask whether you can do their hair. The answer should already be yes.
Want to see how we teach it? Browse Kaizen classes, book private mentoring, or bring us to your team with in-salon education.