A New Era…
It’s so important to us at The Studio Upstairs to be as authentic in our practice as possible. Oodles of experience in the industry have taught us that we must be completely true to ourselves to provide the most genuine service to our clients (& that’s when we make our magic!). As we carefully assess our values as individuals and as a studio, we’ve made the decision to provide hair services that reflect the length of time & technicality of the appointment and not by the gender our clients identify as. We want to be as authentic as possible when it comes to being an inclusive salon, so it felt like it was the right time for our team to ensure that the basing of appointments on gender become completely eradicated (who needs labels anyways?!). Our service list has been completely restructured and simplified - wahoo! But more importantly, we have implemented a gender neutral approach to these services.
When we schedule appointments by the length of time, it reflects on the time that is spent with the colourists and stylists and their expertise - not just the length of hair or thickness of your hair. To make it fairer on our clients AND our stylists, we are charging by mastery and time not on gender length and service. Services in 2022 aren’t just simply a ‘half head of foils’ or a ‘regrowth service’ because the industry and techniques are evolving so rapidly, quite often the service someone books in for by name, isn’t necessarily the result they’re aiming for. By basing these appointments and services on time and technicality, we can first and foremost make sure you are receiving the most out of your appointment time but it also ensures that the service that you want is the service that you get - bloody wonderful (not to mention the fact that you can plan your day around your appointment knowing how many minutes or hours it will take to complete!).
Gender neutral services and pricing is so important because equality is important. We think to ourselves - why should the price of a ‘male’ cut be any different to the ‘female’ cut? The industry has been marketed so much towards female presenting people as a luxury - whereas with male presenting people, the concept is a quick and easy service. Over the time in our careers, were definitely seeing more male presenting people having the desire for more than just a ‘short, back and sides’ and female presenting people looking for a more reserved service to enhance their natural hair and not transform it so much, it really does make sense to base these appointments on a time structure as well as providing an inclusive space for all people, allowing you to feel welcome and at home in our studio. So many people in the community have had to battle with the feeling of exclusion and not quite having a box to tick where they fit in, a male presenting person having to schedule a ‘Ladies Style Cut’ because they have long hair can be detrimental to those who experience gender dysphoria and vice versa. It's our goal at The Studio Upstairs to make our team feel worthy and fulfilled in their careers as well as making sure that every single person who walks through our door feels welcomed, seen & accepted. Its our promise to you to always strive to evolve and be allies in all communities.
