I’ll admit that when I first read the headline, “Stylists reach out to abused women,� I was extremely skeptical. My anticipation was one of finding that the article would be about giving domestic violence survivors make-overs or something. But Cut It Out is nothing of the sort.

The program was created by the Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and has become a national program which essentially trains salon professionals on how to recognize signs of domestic violence, and what to do about it. It may sound a bit bizarre, but the fact of the matter is that salons have been known to be a safe space for many women to disclose their life experiences and be in a women-friendly environment where male abusers typically wouldn’t go.

Yes, salons are still public spaces where women wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable talking about their abuse while other women are in the room, but the program teaches stylists to be discrete with their communication, whether it be slipping a hotline card into a magazine or just listening and suggesting resources (out of the hearing range to others). This is just one of the many things Cut It Out teaches their stylists.

I love it. Check out their site for more info.

1 Comments

October 30, 2006 6:00 PM

[0+]  HeatherBartlett said:

This is a GREAT IDEA - my 20 year old daughter just became a licensed stylist - I will pass this along to her.

:)

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