• dfc09@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s no requirement, and there’s no reason a white person can’t go to a black barbershop, but black people’s hair is often much different to cut than most white people’s hair, and preferred styles quite different.

    It’s not so much “this barber is for black people” and more so “this barber is owned by black people, so black people can assume they’ll be given the experience they’re looking for”

    • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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      1 year ago

      Yeah. The first time I went to a black barbershop, the barber seemed a little apprehensive at first as I have straight/wavy hair and he was used to cutting other kinds of hair.

      It was also the first time in a while that, after I got my hair cut, people complimented me on having a good hair cut instead of just getting my hair cut.

    • kboy101222@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      As an Elmer’s glue looking person myself, before I started letting my hair grow I was only going to black barbershops to get a buzz cut. I don’t know what the hell they do different cause it felt the exact same as every other haircut, but my hair fell so much nicer. Literally the texture was 10x better.

      It also seemed way more even despite the fact that it took less time.

      Also, they had a guy out front who made BBQ sandwiches once every few weeks. I scheduled my haircuts around him being there. He got really bad mono and was out for a month. I let my hair grow the entire time.

      • gordon@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They likely used better equipment. I’ve done the same and a black co-worker explained that black hair is much coarser than white hair so they must use much sharper shears and keep them in top shape. Your typical (white) barber shop would use shears well past when they are too dull to cut black hair in an acceptable way but work well enough for the average white customer, but sharp shears leave hair much healthier and give a cleaner cut.