Woman Told By Stylist That Her Hair Was “An Animal That Cannot Be Tamed”

Bianca Dawkins emailed us two days ago and asked if we could share her story and after reading it, I gladly obliged.

Bianca went to Danny Kemp Salon in Minneapolis for a simple wash and blow dry with flat iron* after waiting for her hair to be done the stylist assigned told her that her hair was “an animal that cannot be tamed”

Read below according to City Pages,

Bianca Davis called ahead.

In making an appointment at the Denny Kemp Salon and Spa in Minneapolis, Dawkins informed the receptionist that she had “textured hair.”

What Dawkins wanted done was very simple: a wash, a blow-dry, and a flat iron* treatment, leaving her with straight hair. Because Dawkins has “really curly, tight curls,” she told the desk assistant her hair would need up to two hours.

When she arrived there on Friday, Dawkins found the stylist wasn’t exactly ready for her. And it wasn’t clear if he ever would be.

According to Dawkins, the man grabbed some of her hair and informed her he couldn’t handle it, referring to it as “an animal that can’t be tamed.” Later, she says, he brought around a handful of other staff to look at Dawkins’ curls. None was up to the task.

At that point, Dawkins had had enough. “So, what? Black girls can’t come in here and get their hair done?” she asked.

According to Dawkins, the stylist replied, “Well, it isn’t the 1950s or ’60s, where we can just put up a sign in the window.”

“In that moment, I was having my identity attacked,” Dawkins says. “I couldn’t believe what was happening. I just put my head down and walked out.”

Bianca Dawkins had been treating her hair her whole life, but switched to a natural style around 18 months ago.

Later, she posted on her experience on Facebook, where many friends shared it, and a lot of others took their issues directly to the salon, communicating their anger through emails and phone calls.

On Facebook Bianca shared the following:

My hair has been natural for over a year now and it has been a journey. I’ve experienced the toughest part of my journey yesterday when my hair was referred to an animal.

I thought for a second should I get a perm but I didn’t want this incident to get the best of me. I want to be apart of the movement that is creating awareness that “All People” should be made to feel beautiful. I want everyone to receive great experiences when they are getting pampered. No one should feel like their hair should be “tamed” or they are not to be accommodated or supported when trying to find and receive treatment.

I don’t want the incident that happened to blow over, and just be a thing that happened because many people have experienced this and it is just pure ignorance. ‪#‎iamnotananimalthatneedstobetamed‬ ‪#‎iamhuman‬ ‪#‎everyoneshouldbepamperedproperly‬

The thing about Bianca is that she was not going to take this sitting down, she literally lit a fire under her story and it has been picking up steam since then.