This Sydney Hairstylist Is Petitioning TAFE NSW To Introduce Mandatory Training On Textured Hair

"What are you saying when you only teach people to do one kind of hair?”

As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to unearth issues of systemic racism that BIPOC people face daily, a new petition has been created — calling out the hairdressing industry for its Eurocentric beauty standards.

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This week, a change.org petition is calling for TAFE to include Afro Hair Education in their Certificate III in Hairdressing courses — which more than 11,500 people have currently signed.

Chrissy Zemura, the Sydney-based hairstylist and educator behind this petition, spoke to BuzzFeed Australia about the lack of education TAFE NSW students receive when it comes to diverse hair types — and the ongoing impacts that it has on both the industry and systemic racism.

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Zemura was also a hair stylist on Shine 4 Diversity's recent campaign "Hair We Are."

Zemura told BuzzFeed Australia: "I've often seen clients walk into a salon with curly or textured hair and seen other stylists get nervous or frustrated about having to take them on because they simply do not know what to do with their hair."

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"As a result, many clients get turned down, which is a terrible experience for them and huge financial loss for the business.”

Zemura, who has been working professionally for over eight years, described the challenges she faced as Black woman going through an education system that didn’t properly equip her to do her job: "I went through the TAFE system and I didn't have to learn the science behind textured hair and how to cut, style or colour any type of textured hair — be that anything from curly hair to Afro hair."

Chrissy Zemura / Via Supplied

"I graduated not knowing how to do my own hair, and that's embarrassing."

Growing up in London with Zimbabwean heritage, Zemura credits her specialist knowledge of working with textured hair to her experiences learning from Zimbabwean stylists.

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"The way I actually learned how to do textured and Afro hair was by literally spending my holidays in Zimbabwe, working with and learning from local stylists," said Zemura. "These are skills that I should have learnt during my formal education, but instead had to learn on my own."

"The education industry is now acting as the gatekeeper of Eurocentric beauty standards. What are you saying when you only teach people to do one kind of hair?"

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And Zemura notes, this lack of education often affects talent in creative industries: "If we don’t have trained professionals on set who know how to work with different hair types, what often happens is that models or actors of colour either have to do their own hair, bring their own products or stylists, or risk having their hair inadequately styled or ruined."

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"This then has flow-on effects that can impact the careers of PoC talent, as they might be seen as difficult to work with if they speak out about their mistreatment on set."

In response to the petition, a spokesperson for TAFE NSW has stated that: "The national training package currently requires training across all natural hair types including European, Asian, Euro-Asian and African, different textures including coarse, medium and fine; and different hair movements including straight, wavy, natural curl and chemical curl...TAFE NSW courses are delivered-in line with these requirements."

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Zemura has refuted these claims, stating that this is simply not true. “I have spoken to apprentices who are currently still at TAFE and unfortunately, it seems like nothing has changed since when I went through."

Zemura hopes that these changes will ensure that hairdressing services will be more inclusive and actually adequately service the Australian public.