But, I mean, what happened to all those hairdressers who dealt with people getting spiral perms in the 80s and early 90s? They had to cut curls. Where'd they all go?

Everyone who got spiral perms were getting layer cuts, because the point was MAXIMUM VOLUME.

Also, speaking from my 20+ years ago experience in cosmetology school, we didn't learn that you needed to cut curly hair differently than straight hair. Most of the techniques I was taught were about how to deal with hair that had been massively damaged by chemicals.

Tangentially related, I miss Fanci-full conditioning rinse. They had the best color of pastel cotton candy pink!

I am in serious need of summer clothes and there's nothing at all I want in the stores right now.

Seriously. Last time I went clothes shopping, everything was drapey and see-through.

I wanted to get some cardigans or light jackets to wear over sleeveless tops for work, and I was annoyed at how all of the cover ups had these flowy openings. Can I get a damned button? A hook and eye?

I want crisp woven cotton (or linen) princess-seamed blouses with cap sleeves. You can imagine my pain. Even Lands End is going through a drapey phase.

So as a Black woman, I have never had a White woman cut or style my hair.

EVER.

I know what you mean, Allyson, about finding a hairdresser who can do hair correctly. For me, I decided to go natural around 15 years ago and finding a Black hair stylist who also could style natural hair was a no joke affair. It became such a problem that I learned to braid my own hair. I have not been to a professional in years, and I need to go because I need to get a proper cut and I would love to sit in a hair and just have someone do my fucking hair, but I can't find anyone to do it.

I called up one salon that is about 60-90 minutes from here, but they want to consult FIRST and then I need to go back to have my hair done (which will take 3-4 hours).

As you can likely imagine, I don't really have that kind of time anymore.

I feel 10% of everyone's hair pain today: for the second time this year, a haircut I absolutely needed to get was canceled. I feel like this town is antithetical to good, reliable, reasonable stylists. I need to find someone new again, because I can't be calling into the salon all the time.

I've never had a salon cancel an appointment. I wouldn't go back. What the hell.

I have never had a White woman cut or style my hair

Since I figure it's just a buzzcut, I have a couple times in the past year. It hasn't been worth it. By and large, I have preferred haircuts from people who identify as barbers, but, statistically, my best cuts have been from men of any colour, and my worst from women, white. Although I've had crap from every demographic I've tied.

Which means I need to remember names at the place that last cut my hair, because I can't keep flipping a coin with the walk-ins. However, "the gay guy with the long floppy grey hair at the chair near the window"--is that good enough? Because that's all I got. Forgot to put it in Evernote.

So as a Black woman, I have never had a White woman cut or style my hair.

I'm gonna ask again, I used to capitalize White and Black in terms of race, but was told not to, and I keep seeing it done more frequently. Is it a preference? It seems like race/color should be capitalized.

I watched Chris Rock's documentary on hair, and it was awesome in spots, and dripping with male privilege in others in a sort of, "why are women so silly to spend so much money and time on this thing I think is silly because I'm a guy and I am the arbiter of Shit To Be Taken Seriously" kind of way.

But it really hit home that hair is one of the most in-your-face ways of describing privilege when i'm trying to describe it to other white people. When i started to think about racism when I as a teenager, I ran across an article about privilege and the first paragraph concerned hair. Years later it also introduced me to the idea that a lot of feminist history was about white women's problems, and ignored issues facing black women.

Hair, as it turns out, can be a pretty sly way to segue into discussions of racism and feminism.

I think the question was (seriously paraphrasing): Are you reasonably sure that you can open a phonebook, pick a salon, and they will be able to cut your hair?

as a mark of privilege.