Tell you what, my kid just started a dog grooming business in our back yard and she'll do any breed for $5 in under 15 minutes.
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Posted on 05/30/2005 10:00:15 AM PDT by Asphalt
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An Alabama woman is seeking class-action status for a lawsuit against a Dillard's Inc. hair salon for allegedly charging black women more than white women.
Debbie Deavers Sturvisant alleges that a hair salon in a Tuscaloosa, Ala., Dillard's department store charged $35 to wash and set her hair, while white women paid $20 for the same service.
Sturvisant's lawsuit could bring a whole new level of attention to the general practice across the country of charging differently for hair care based on ethnicity.
Officials in Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts have already addressed race- and sex-based pricing differences at hair salons.
"The stereotype is that all black hair is the same. But that's erroneous...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
That's awful. Their self-esteem must be suffering terribly.
Good choice in who she's deciding to sue. Dillard's has VERY deep pockets, and owns a HUGE chunk of the up-scale retail in this country. (They'll probably just settle to shut her up.)
If you look at this link, you'll see that Dillard's has either had a long string of plain old Bad Luck, or they really are a shoddily run organization:
Discrimination: In May 2001, Dillard's was ordered by a jury to pay $800,000 in a wrongful death trial in a Houston state court. The case involves the death of a man who Dillard's alleges was psychotic. Police officers were called in to the store to handle the man who had become belligerent. An employee claims she saw officers beating the handcuffed man, who died two days later after being on life support. Source: The Houston Chronicle, April 12, 2001
Health and Safety: Dillard's has a policy of hiring armed, off-duty police officers to provide security. Since 1994, at least six people have died after confrontations with Dillard's security officers. In all cases but one, the victims were minorities. None of the victims had weapons. Source: New Pittsburgh Courier, 1-1-03/Houston Press, 1-04
Discrimination: Dillard's pulled advertising from some CBS affiliates after the network's "60 Minutes" featured a story about Dillard's alleged discrimination against minorities. The show described a lawsuit against Dillard's and some security guards who allegedly harassed and beat black customers, leaving one person dead. The company did not pull ads from ABC or NBC affiliates. Source: The Associated Press, April 11, 2001
Ethics: In January 2003, a Texas district judge ordered Dillard's not to destroy security personnel notebooks and logs that plaintiffs in lawsuits against the retailer claim may show systematic targeting of minority and low-income shoppers for surveillance and intimidation. According to documents given to an attorney for a plaintiff in a discrimination suit against the store, a Dillards official in May 2000 ordered that all security officer notebooks, logs and other documents be sent to corporate headquarters and that no copies be retained by local stores. An internal e-mail dated July 2001 stated that "All unauthorized forms or notebooks containing narrative information of non-arrest activity must be destroyed." Source: New Pittsburgh Courier, January 1, 2003
Health and Safety: In 2005, Dillard's paid $15 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of a 5 year old girl whose fingers were amputated in a defective escalator at the company's St. Petersburg, Florida store. At the time another lawsuit against Dillard's was under consideration in Iowa. In that case another child also lost fingers. Source: Tampa Tribune, Feb. 13, 2005
http://www.responsibleshopper.org/basic.cfm?cusip=254067
I report. You decide.
I've had a lot of "black" friends over the years and they almost all had a lot of hair on their heads. I know this one "black" girl at a little store I go to who has the most beautiful head of curls. I always joke with her that I wish I had her hair even though it would look at silly on me. She said it takes a lot of work to keep her hair that way.
I'm just making a practical observation based upon what I've seen. Doing anything that takes more time should cost more money. But that's only applicable if someone wants to pay for the work.
Thanks for the thought. If I were given the choice, I'd take my chances with the full head of hair. Grin.
Any hairdressers in the crowd here?
Fifteen more dollars to do black hair? It's not THAT bad. Sheesh. Good for her. Sue them.
Actually it isn't the same thing. It would be more difficult to cut and style coarse, wiry hair than straighter, finer hair. I have long, thick hair, kind of coarse in texture. I get charged more for a hair cut at the beauty salon than a woman with short hair. It's more work to cut and style my hair than to do someone's shorter hair.
Thats exactly it. I know as my son even costs more than me as his hair is exacly the same as my wifes. I've seen multiple haridressers pull their own hair out trying to cut his hair and get it right.
With me it's just short back and sides.
This is bull... my wife had to pay more to have her hair permed because it was so very long/thick when we first married (3 kids later, the hair has gotten shorter). Not all hair is equal, get over it... some requires more time, others not.. I get paid by the hour, hairdresses should charge by the hour too.
There's nothing sressful about a wash and set even on really nappy hair. I've been to enough salons to know this. Getting a perm is different and a very involved procedure.
No thanks, I don't know where it's been.
I finally got the wife to do a mean flat-top worth a hoot.. 10 years of bad haircuts finally paid off.
My first thoughts were that perhaps it took longer, or required different shampoos or processes that typically are not used on caucasian's hair...
Your mentioning that it may even require TECHNIQUES that are unfamiliar to most caucasion shops, was overlooked.
Women usually pay different rates for various processes, depending on whether they have long hair, shoulder length hair, or short hair. Sounds unfair, but I suppose it's true that there can be significant differences in the time spent by the salon.
"I wonder if Old English Sheepdogs get charged more than Labrador Retrievers at the groomers?"
Have you ever seen a Labrador Retriever that needed grooming?
Now I swear, I had a black woman tell me her hair was stronger, fuller, and less oily than a white woman's hair.
She even called over one of her friends to prove it by asking her the same questions, and her black friend confirmed that a Black woman's hair is different than a white woman's hair.
The main difference is the oils in the hair. Black women do not have to wash their hair as often, and can go as long as 3 weeks without washing their hair.
How any of this is related, I am not sure, why this difference might be considered a reason to charge more, but, Ill let the hairdressers refute the claim.
Unless it is outright racism of course...
Tell you what, my kid just started a dog grooming business in our back yard and she'll do any breed for $5 in under 15 minutes.
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After
Having little left on top, I've always thought about asking for a discount.
Clearly a case of racial 'fro-filing.
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