Salon Accused of 'Black Hair' Surcharge

[shawn703]

An Alabama woman is seeking class-action status for a lawsuit against a Dillard's Inc. hair salon for allegedly charging black women more than white women.

Debbie Deavers Sturvisant alleges that a hair salon in a Tuscaloosa, Ala., Dillard's department store charged $35 to wash and set her hair, while white women paid $20 for the same service.

Sturvisant's lawsuit could bring a whole new level of attention to the general practice across the country of charging differently for hair care based on ethnicity.

Officials in Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts have already addressed race- and sex-based pricing differences at hair salons.



more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/dillard_s_salon_bias;_ylt=AiO83PIQW_aLEG63ep5l7Sms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2bm5xNHVjBHNlYwNtcA--

[classics]

1. This will just result in higher prices all around.

Womens hair is generally longer and more difficult to cut and style, therefore taking longer to do and costing more. If you try to make a law that men and women have to pay the same, you will simply end up with men paying $45 for a basic hair cut.

Without knowing exactly what kind of hair style, chemical treatments, hair extensions, etc, that this woman had, this entire story is just race card blather.

[ugarte]

2. So people with curly hair should pay more than people with straight?

Unequal pricing is just a none too subtle way of telling black people they're not welcome. The store is way out of line.

[classics]

10. Absolutely

If it takes longer to do your hair you will have to pay more.

Do you think the person working in the salon is your personal slave who will work for however long it takes for the $4 they make on your hair?

More time = more money, in every industry.

[UdoKier]

11. I disagree with that.

But charging more for different services (relaxers or intricate braidwork) is fair enough.

[meg]

3. I call BS

I have a short 'boy's cut'. My hair is straight. Women SHOULD not have to pay more than men for the same service. Period.

If 'y' style is harder to cut, then charge extra for 'y' style.

[Warpy]

4. I liked your second paragraph

but the first one has to go. When I worked 12 hour night shifts, I kept my hair very short. It was no more difficult to cut than the typical man's hair (unless he wanted a Marine style buzz cut). I was still charged more. This is a simple cut, folks, not a complete style job.

Women are charged more for drycleaning and laundering plain shirts. How can they tell? By which side the buttons are on, no other characteristic.

Yet we're still paid only 70% of what males earn. Go figure.

People who are underpaid and overcharged are a disadvantaged class. That includes the black folks who are charged more for a shampoo. I do agree that stylists need to pay more attention to the processing a black person's hair has been through, though. Overcharging because of it should not be an issue.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Absolutely correct

Hair salons and dry cleaners charge women more because they can. It isn't based on complexity. Massachusetts forced dry cleaners and laundries to either prove it was more expensive to handle women's clothes or change the price structure. Guess what? There is gender-neutral pricing.

[NV Whino]

5. Women's hairstyles generally take longer to deal with

I have very short hair and my stylist (a female barber) charges me male cut prices. She, in fact doesn't take on women with long hair.

That is not to say there isn't race discrimination going on in some salons, but in most salons, charges are based on time. Long hair equals more time. Black people's hair, depending on length and what kind of processing it has had in the past takes more time. It also takes more time to do a very short cut with very curly thick hair.

Another note on women's blouses vs men's shirts at the dry cleaners: Again the charge is based on time. blouses generally have tucks and darts, sometimes puff sleeves, fancy cuffs and collars. These things take longer to deal with. A few of us wear very plain man-styled shirts, and we are the ones who get dinged. Believe me, I bitch about the difference in price, too, but I do understand why they do it overall

[BrendaStarr]

7. At the cleaners

Then more charge should be placed on those "blouses" and shirts that have the frills, not just on "women's" blouses.

[Orangepeel]

9. using gender as a shortcut is discriminatory

A service business can easily take cost factors into account directly and in a non discriminatory way. If long hair takes more time, charge by hair lenght or time. If puffed sleaves take longer, charge by style or (again) time.

Charging by gender because there is a correlation between gender and cost to service is just lazy. Service providers can usually get away with it because it is so common, but I think they are asking for and deserving of a discrimination lawsuit (in addition to forgoing potential goodwill they could generate among, for example, short-haired, plain shirt wearing women, by pricing based on more direct criteria).

[Karenina]

12. More responses

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3755730

[prole_for_peace]

6. when i had a pixie cut, i was charged the same as when my

hair was to my waist. the pixie was no harder to cut and most men's styles. i also get charged the same to color my shoulder length (now) hair as i was for a color on the waist length. sucks.

now i color myself. screw them. but i can't cut it myself so ...

[ohio_liberal]

13. I have hair to my waist

I always pay more for hair services because of the length of my hair.

[Karenina]

14. Lemme think about this a minute...

:freak: