Woman ‘angry’ after barber refused to cut her hair in Nailsea

Jenny and Husband Peter from Nailsea. Picture: Jeremy Long (C)2016 Jeremy Long / JCLPhotography, all rights reserved

A customer was left angry and upset after a barbershop refused to cut her hair because she was a woman.

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Jenny MacKendrick visited JW Barbers in Nailsea High Street as she wanted an undercut.

Jenny went in with her three-year-old daughter and her partner Peter King and showed them a picture of the style she wanted.

She said: “I wanted an undercut – a shaved panel. I found some pictures online.

“I’ve got long hair but what I was asking for was exactly what they would do for a man.

“I thought the barber would have better skills to do the hair cut I wanted.

“The man in there just kept saying ‘I won’t cut women’s hair’.

“He said the other barber in the shop wouldn’t do it either.

“He suggested I go to see the barber up the road as she’s a woman.

“My partner had his hair cut at JW Barbers so I wanted to go there too because they did a good job on him.”

Jenny said she did not go to any other barbershop as she felt so upset.

She said: “I didn’t try any others because I felt awful. I just went home.

“Nothing like this has happened to be before - it’s not the 1800s.

“I hadn’t been to a barbers’ before but I know it’s not legal to refuse to cut my hair.

“It made me quite angry because it feels like I can’t do anything about it.

“It has put me off going into another barbershop and asking for a hair cut.

“I know it’s quite unusual but I do think the barber would have better skills to do the hair cut I wanted.

“We came home and my partner cut my hair with his beard trimmer.”

Joe Weaver, who owns the barbershop, said he did not want to upset a salon he shares a building with.

He said: “We are in the same building as another salon and I’m not allowed to do women’s hair because I’d be taking business away from next door.

“It’s the way the set up is and I wouldn’t want to upset the landlord.”

The National Hairdressers Federation (NHF) and the National Beauty Federation (NBF) have confirmed barbershops cannot refuse to cut a woman’s hair.