Hello and welcome to another episode of the Perception Podcast with me your host Caroline Partridge. In today's episode I'm joined by human rights lawyer, hair salon owner and founder of 'The Black Hair Society' Sabina Harris-Hercules. Sabina talks about promoting the positive representation of Afro hair in society and her mission to redress hair discrimination and bias. She shares what it was like growing up in 1970s London as a black woman and explains how black hair businesses evolved. We also look at the repercussions of toxic hair treatments, like relaxers, the desire for Caucasian looking hair and why there is such a woeful lack of education and training about black hair when the black hair industry is such big business. So please join me as we look a life through a different lens.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Sabina challenges the frequent bias and hair discrimination found in education, workplaces and the wider community. She is passionate about being a voice for change.
Combining her legal expertise with extensive salon experience, Sabina established the Black Hair Society specifically to challenge discrimination and create institutional change in professional hair education
Her decades of client interactions have documented the generational damage caused by relaxers and toxic treatments, with many older clients suffering permanent hair loss and scalp damage
As both a lawyer and salon owner, Sabina has supported numerous families whose children faced school discrimination simply for wearing traditional black hairstyles
Her work with mixed-race clients and their parents exposed the critical knowledge gap affecting cross-racial families, demonstrating the broader societal impact of inadequate hair education
Through her salon work, Sabina has observed how the normalised segregation between "black" and "white" salons contradicts Britain's multicultural reality
Leveraging her dual professional background, she's now leading the Black Hair Society's research efforts to gather concrete statistics needed to influence policy makers and transform industry attitudes
BEST MOMENTS
“I also challenge hair discrimination and bias in education and the workplace”
“It’s unfair because there is unequal access, a hair stylist should be competent in all hair types, we shouldn’t have segregation in the hair industry”
"In 22 years I've had one person from the community college come to my salon... when she qualified and came to work in our salon, she couldn't do black hair. We had to retrain."
"We need to reverse the Eurocentric beauty standards... embrace our natural hair, embrace ourselves as individuals with different and unique hair textures that are just as equally important as any other."
"Knowledge is power and through increasing society's understanding of Afro textured hair, we will help eliminate discrimination and bias."
"We have to embrace the beauty of diversity, as we do with people, as we do with everyone. How should hair be any different?"
ABOUT THE GUEST
Blog, Socials & Contact
https://www.theblackhairsociety.com
CONTACT METHOD
FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/caropartridge
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-partridge-03131520
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/partridge_caroline