‘Hair has no gender’: How an initiative to highlight trans-friendly salons is now 7,500 strong

Strands for Trans is one of the winners of Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards. Explore the full list of projects we’re honoring for making the world more equitable, accessible, and sustainable.

Barber shops and hair salons play a significant role in both our culture and our sense of self. But for people who are transgender or nonbinary, rather than being a haven of pampering or self-care, they can be yet another place of discrimination.

Xavier Cruz and JP Gomez, co-owners of New York City’s Barba Grooming Boutique, set out to change that with Strands for Trans, an initiative that created a digital registry of trans-friendly salons around the world. This movement, co-created by Barba and the creative agency Terri & Sandy, is the winner of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award in the Small Business category.

While Strands for Trans launched in 2017 (accompanied by a large social promotion push from designer Marc Jacobs), it exploded in 2022 as a wave of anti-trans laws, rhetoric, and violence roiled the country. Now the list contains more than 7,500 salons on six continents (4,000 of them added in 2022 alone) that have pledged to be gender-inclusive and trans-friendly.

Practically, this can mean a number of things. For starters, every salon registered with Strands for Trans boasts a pink, white, and blue barber pole sticker in the window (inspired by the trans-pride flag). Salons are also encouraged to strip any gendered language from the service menu: no more “men’s cut” or “women’s cut,” which can be alienating and also vary widely in terms of pricing. Some salon owners put their own spin on things. Cruz and Gomez mention a barber in Tennessee who puts stickers on the mirror with his own pronouns, signaling that it’s a welcome space to talk about that.

For Gomez and Cruz, it meant changing their salon’s whole concept. Barba opened as a men’s boutique in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood in 2011. But as the pair launched Strands for Trans, they wanted to change their focus as well. The “men’s grooming boutique” lost the gender and became all-inclusive. “It’s changed everything for the better,” Cruz says.

In March, Strands for Trans officially became a nonprofit focused on building out educational materials and deepening the community. The organization has been hosting Zoom focus groups to hear what barbers and stylists around the country are doing in their own salons and to help encourage best practices. (“It’s everyday verbiage,” Cruz says. “During a consultation, if it’s a woman in the chair, you start using words like, ‘It frames your face,’ or “You look so pretty.’ You don’t want to use feminine or masculine words to describe a haircut.”)

Cruz and Gomez are also exploring ways to expand the movement even further. On March 31—Trans Visibility Day—they cohosted a “Gender Euphoria” day in the metaverse. They’re also partnering with the New York City mayor’s office to provide mental health resources for people in crisis so that stylists and barbers are able to recognize signs of distress and provide resources for finding a therapist or even a place to stay the night. “These people are important for personal healthcare,” Cruz says. “Hairstylists are such a key component of who you are.”