Salon segregation is a dirty secret no one talks about, and unless youve experienced it, you might not know it exists.

Although the beauty industry professes inclusiveness, stylists arent being trained in all hair types, including textured hair common among Black women. As a result, Black women cannot be expertly serviced in all salons. This is problematic, especially as the salon is a place dedicated to self-care, a place to be pampered and feel beautiful.

Hair is a microcosm of different issues in America today, said beauty entrepreneur Myka Harris of Highbrow Hippie , a holistic salon in Los Angeles.

As an extension of identity, hair is deeply tied to ritual and memory. Perhaps your mother pressed the locks from your first haircut in a keepsake book, or you have hazy recollections of a parent combing your hair in a bath. For African-American women especially, hair is culturally laden with significance and collective memory.

Authors Ayana D. Byrd and Lori L. Tharps explain in their seminal book Hair Story that before the African diaspora, hair functioned as part of a complex language system, indicating geographic origin, community rank and marital status, among other cultural markers. Slave owners would systematically shave the heads of enslaved Africans, thus severing any connection with Africa. So today, when people refer to natural Black hair as untamed or kinky, they are being more than insensitive theyre enforcing centuries of colonial oppression.

But its 2020, and most people know better. The thing is, institutional racism is so entrenched in the fabric of cultural ethos that when it comes to the beauty industry at the intersection of the personal, political and profitable remnants of cultural hegemony can be insidious. Rarely do we have an honest discussion about the types of salons we choose as it pertains to race and why it has been accepted for beauty professionals to not be knowledgeable about all types of hair. But how can you dismantle something you cant put your finger on?