JuSt In CaSe YoUr HaIr Is ShOrT aNd CuRlY…..

Posted: September 14, 2012 in DAY 2 DAY, POLITICS?
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

So I’ve had a good week, got back into London on Monday after being away for over two months! Was great to be away (I tell you) but it’s even nicer to be back, settle in, and get some quality work done!

My niece and nephew have been here on holiday since the middle of July, and it was really great to see them after such a while! Took my seven-year old handsome to see Ice Age 4 on Wednesday and he spent half the movie time trying to tell me about his birthday party at Thorpe Park! Errrr, what happened to before or after the movie Sir? Kids!!

Then I went shopping with the 15-year-old (going on 30) diva yesterday, and guess what she was interested in? Do you have a 15-year-old? Yup, you guessed right! I had a good time though, and lots of laughs so I’m not even complaining.

I’ll complain about this though, and bitterly too. So I took the niece and nephew to Lakeside Shopping Mall yesterday (the 13th), and amongst other things we needed to get a haircut for my nephew David. Was a little urgent because he had not only stuck bubble gum on one side of his hair the night before, but earlier in the day he had been fooling around and nicked off a patch of his hair with a pair of scissors. See the picture yet? Kids!

Anyways, so we went into SuperCuts, I said like to get his hair cut, and they said the child price was £9.95. I agreed, they took his name, and then asked us to sit down, that someone would be with us in two minutes. Now there’s a Greggs just beside it so I was going to get us all something to nibble on, an incentive for my nephew to have a haircut devoid of tears.

Next thing two ladies beckoned on me and said, ‘we’re sorry but we cannot cut his hair, we’re not insured to do so’. Confused, I asked why. They said, ‘his hair is short and curly and we’re not insured to do this type of hair’. I said they should cut it using his own clippers (Nigerians always carry around their own shaving kits) and they said even then they wouldn’t be able to do his hair. I smiled, said thank, and we left; inside I was seething.

Does ‘that’ still happen? In 2012? Seriously? Even to a child? And you know, now that I think of it, it was the way the lady said, ‘oh let me think of another hair salon you can go to in this mall’, and then I stood there for a few minutes. When she just kept looking back at me saying, ‘uhmmm’, I got the message, and left. What the hell!!

When my nephew asked why they didn’t cut his hair, I lied to him and said his shaving kit didn’t fit their sockets in the salon. He said ok but when I said we should walk around and find another barbershop he said, ‘let’s look for one that has black people inside aunty Chioma, or let’s go home, and Uncle Akpofure can cut it for me when I go back to Abuja’.

So he knew, and that made me very angry.

Did SuperCuts have a sign at the door saying ‘@SuperCuts we only cater to long, straight hair’? No. Is the equipment for cutting the ‘two types’ of hair different? I don’t think so!

Dear @supercutsuk, I don’t know what to say to you. We got a barber who can handle short, curly hair to come to the house to cut my nephew’s hair, and he leaves for Nigeria tonight. But I’ll make sure you don’t do what you did to me, to anyone else.

The short, curly hair….

Comments
  1. Chief Sista says:

    Not insured?!? Is this a joke! Now I’m just pissed off! I really hope someone from Supercuts replies this post and addresses the issue.

    Like

    • Sista, it wasn’t a joke o! Let me even use my reply to you to update everyone on what’s going on.

      So the Regional Manager called me on Friday morning, in response to my email to them with this post (they had tweeted an email address at me to send them details), and she apologized and said she was starting an investigation, and would get in touch on Monday, after she’d heard from the other side.

      Later in the day I got an email from the Senior Vice President, and she said she was aware the regional manager was already in touch but she wanted to speak to me personally. Unfortunately by the time I saw and replied her mail confirming my phone number, it was past working hours.

      Monday then, let’s wait and see…

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  2. At first I didn’t understand… Now that I do, I am also seething. ‘Tis really terrible.

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  3. engie says:

    Wow! d little boy even caught on that means we might have encountered other things……*smh*

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  4. Xorra says:

    This is terrible! Its worse cos the little boy even knew what they normally do! Gosh!!

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  5. Mish Foster says:

    very interesting entry.

    😉

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  6. That is terrible, no need to do that in this day and age.

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  7. carmenmccain says:

    outrageous! I’m so sorry you and your nephew had to go through this!!

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  8. Kolakky says:

    FGS, kindly keep us updated.
    Thanks

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  9. Chief Sista says:

    Hey FGS! have you heard from them yet?

    Like

    • Hey Sista! The Vice President called this afternoon to apologize and say that their Regional Manager is still conducting the investigation and I’ll hear from them soon.
      She also said to get in touch if I’m not happy with the outcome of the investigation.

      Let’s wait and see…..

      Like

  10. To be honest, i am not in the least bit surprised about this occurrence as i see that the world especially in these parts is conditioned to see color before being. The child is black first before he is a human being. English people are the biggest hypocrites to exist in the world and i stand by that argument anyday. There is so much to say but story for another day. And just so you know ‘not happy with the outcome’ is a way of telling you the so-called investigation probably might be pointless to you. Welcome back and hopefully we will connect???

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  12. Abang Mercy says:

    Chioma I honestly never knew this is what I should have seen, some how, I have been very busy and after reading this article, the pains inside of me knows no bound. For anyone to discriminate against a kid beats me. I am so so bitter, really bitter

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  13. Tola says:

    But on a serious note, why are y’all outraged? If you line up 10 black folks none of them would tell you that they’d go to supercuts to get their hair cut. I’m not defending them but perhaps you also shoulda been more careful, that way you wouldn’t have subjected your nephew to that unnecessary rejection. Black people go the black barbers… Because, they understand the texture of our hair and how to cut it… I’m not sure you’d find many black barbers around that lakeside area though. Sorry about this experience.

    Like

    • When whites come to Nigeria, do we have ‘white hairdressers’ for them? What special skill do you need for a simple hair cut?

      Your comment is sad, especially since I got apologies literally left, right, and center more for their attitude than their inability to cater to him.

      It is this attitude we internalize, and then turn around to say we have been victims of racial discrimination, when in fact we’re the enemies of ourselves.

      I wish you well Tola, I really do.

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