Ottawa barbershop won't cut woman's hair

[lightningandsnow]

An Ottawa woman says her rights were violated when a barbershop in the Glebe neighbourhood refused to cut her hair.

Jayda Kelsall said she was riding her bike along Bank Street when a sign promising a cheap haircut caught her eye.

She said she went inside the Imperial Barber Shop and was told to go somewhere else.

"I was pretty shocked," she said. "I have really short hair. I have a mohawk. I was just looking for the sides to be shaved a little bit and trimmed up, and they flat out said no."

Imperial owner Gilles Lemenoise said his staff turn women away all the time.

But the landlord, Minto Group, said Imperial misinterpreted the agreement.

"However exactly it's written in the lease I don't know," said Greg Rogers, executive vice-president. "But the spirit of the agreement is that he deliver men's-style haircuts."

It doesn't matter whether a man or woman gets the cut, but it has to be a men's style, Rogers said.

Kelsall said she hasn't decided if she'll take legal action, but she doesn't buy Imperial's reason for denying her a cut.

"They are accountable for enforcing a discriminatory policy not because their landlord asked them to but because they agreed to do so," she said. "And start cutting people's hair regardless of what's between their legs."

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/100715/canada/canada_ottawa_ottawa_imperial_hair

(As a side note, this happened right near where I used to live/go to school in Ottawa, and I know this woman. Small world.)

[SidDithers]

1. I wouldn't force myself on any barber that doesn't want me as a customer...

That's just a recipe for a bad 'do.

Sid

[Donnachaidh]

3. agreed -- that's like calling a chef a dickhead to his face and then ordering dinner

And even if you did not order *clams* you'll surely find at least ONE in your soup....

[MineralMan]

2. Getting your haircut at a barbershop where you're not wanted

is a really, really bad idea. Even for men. I have a full beard. Lots of barbers don't like trimming full beards, and aren't very good at it. I can tell by the look on their faces when I enter the shop that they'd rather I didn't come there. So, I don't. It took a little time, but I found a local barber shop where the owner has a full beard and does an excellent job with mine.

Same thing with a black man going into a barber shop where they almost never cut hair for black men. It's just a bad idea, if you want to look good when you leave.

Finally, the very worst thing anyone can do in a barber shop is piss off the barber. You're going to get laughed at when people see the back of your head after you leave.

[lunatica]

6. yeah, but was their incompetence the reason they refused to cut her hair?

In your case it seems to be your choice to go elsewhere. How hard is it to shave a head and just trim the mohawk? And maybe if they fucked that simple haircut up maybe she didn't care that much. Her point was they chose not to serve her and that's not their right.

[MineralMan]

8. I can't answer that question. I don't have enough information.

[MineralMan]

4. An interesting experiment might be to send some guy with a

mohawk and multiple piercings into that barbershop. It's entirely possible that the shop just doesn't like anyone with that style. I don't know, but it would be interesting to find out.

"Hey...you...punk with the mohawk. Get the f... out of here! We ain't cutting any punk hair in this shop."

I don't know about Ottawa, but I can sure hear some of the barbershop owners in this area saying something just like that.

[yella_dawg]

5. God?

Please God, let me live a life so serene that a barber's behavior rises to the level of problematic.

[SunnySong]

7. I'm unsure why this is news... most barbers don't cut womans hair... nt

[eShirl]

10. why on earth not?

[lunatica]

11. That's because most women don't go to barbers.

And many men are finding that they don't like barber's cuts either. Salon's are full of men now.

[SunnySong]

12. And have been since the seventies...

when men reach a certain age... a certain level of married and are more Ed Koch than John Edwards they throw in the towel and hit the barbershop.

[eShirl]

9. weird, hair is hair

The only barbershop I've ever been in had a female barber who did classic men's and boy's styles on anyone who paid for them, male or female.