Colour with Pride: How to offer gender-affirming hair services

I am proudly a member of The Dresscode Project. The DCP is a global alliance of salons and barbershops committed to providing positive, gender-affirming services for LGBTQ+ clients. My role as their Australian Change Maker includes speaking to industry training organisations & colleges about removing gender from hairdressing terminology and lessons, implementing change and sharing easy language changes in my podcast and education events, and working in a gender-affirming hair salon.

My salon service menu is based on creating safer spaces with transparency around gender-free pricing and terminology within consultations and services.

Show notes for episode 127

LET’S MEET OUR GUEST – Jain Moralee

I am interviewing Jain Moralee about inclusivity training for hairdressers and how important it is to offer gender-free haircuts and services in our salons. 

Jain Moralee joined Twenty10 as Co-Executive Director in 2017 and was appointed CEO in 2022. 

Twenty 10 is a Sydney based service working across New South Wales, providing a broad range of specialised services for young people 12-25 including housing, mental health, counselling and social support. For adults they provide social support and for people of all ages they offer telephone support and webchat as the NSW provider for the national QLife project. They also offer inclusivity training and consulting for organisations and service providers across most sectors.

Twenty 10 work with people across Sydney and New South Wales who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender diverse, non-binary, intersex, questioning, queer, asexual and more (LGBTIQA+) people and others of diverse genders and sexualities, their families and communities.

Jain Moralee came to Twenty10 after working in leadership roles across the Arts and Screen sector in New South Wales. Since joining Twenty10 her priorities have included growing the organisation's programs and services through new funding, partnerships and fundraising. She has also grown the training program to deliver capacity building in LGBTIQA+ inclusivity in health and social support services, schools and Government departments and is passionate about collaboration and centring the diverse voices of LGBTIQA+ young people. 

In her spare time, she produces documentaries, loves art in all its forms and lives in beautiful Gadigal Country, with her partner Avra both proud parents to four rescue cats: Watts, Paz, Viva and Tuxedo. 

What is gender-affirming practice?

This includes the training and understanding not to make assumptions by someone's id, paperwork, bank card, or any assumption for their identity. Meet people where they are at and accepting that as what their name and pronouns are. Another example, could be gender-free hair terminology and for hairdressing salons to display some visual cues in the salon with decals and in booking systems for pronouns.

A haircut could be affirming a look, including your gender. 

This is such an important discussion with value-packed strategies shared by Jain Moralee. We created an interview transcription you can download and print out to share with your hair besties and industry friends. 

IN THIS PODCAST WE DISCUSS:

• How to offer gender-affirming hair services
• Why the letter in the acronym are different from organisation to organisation and in different locations with different letters, for example, LGBTQI+ or LGBTQI2S
• Strategies for hairdressers and salons to access training for LGBTQI+ inclusivity
• How we set up Australia’s first gender-free haircut club with the support of the Dresscode Project alliance with tips for listeners wanting to set one up in their location
• Organisations for online and in-person training
• Plus so much more

Listen to episode 127 of the Colour Kristina Talks Podcast to learn how to offer gender-affirming hair services in your salon.