Manchester salon, The Hair Sanctuary, has launched a UK first this February with its new campaign to educate foster carers of black and mixed heritage children on the care of African Caribbean and textured hair, in collaboration with Manchester City Council.
Rolled out in a pilot scheme for carers working for Manchester City Council, the courses by The Hair Sanctuary teach the basics of natural and protective hair styling for afro and textured hair, and how to support black and mixed heritage children as they discover and embrace their cultural identity and appearance.
The foster parents, temporary carers and residential staff of literally thousands of black and mixed heritage children up and down the UK are often not aware of the cultural significance of afro and textured hairstyles and the necessary haircare. To combat this, leading afro hair specialist, Naomi Brooks, has launched the UK’s first-ever training for foster carers to educate on natural and protective hair styling for African Caribbean and textured hair, and to support black and mixed heritage children as they discover and embrace their cultural identity and appearance.
IMPORTANT TO CHILDREN’S NEEDS
Naomi, who has more than 20 years’ experience in professional hair and beauty and is the Founder of The Hair Sanctuary salon in Manchester, explains: “We have a lot of foster carers who bring their children into the salon on a regular basis as they don’t know what to do with their hair, but understand that it’s an important part of the child’s needs.
“In order for the children to feel connected to their culture, understand their hair and grow confidently it is so important to fill this void,” explains Naomi. “This is exactly what our courses will strive to do. We also regularly hear from parents of black and bi-racial children whose children get questions at school. This is because they’re wearing typical afro hairstyles designed to protect and care for their hair, including braids, canerows, bantu knots and finger coils. We hope that through wider education, it will be understood that these hairstyles are not breaking rules but are in fact the best way of caring for textured hair as well as celebrating cultural heritage and haircare traditions.”
The Hair Sanctuary unveiled the new course at its first carers event at its flagship salon in Manchester’s Sale this February, with more events set to run soon. The course covers natural styling, protective styling and hair styles, care and maintenance and how to avoid damage or neglect to afro and textured hair.