Hair salons aid city in detecting domestic abuse

Mass Innovations, From The Beacon, March 2010

The Cambridge Public Health Department is partnering with hair salons to encourage potential victims of domestic violence to seek help.

The principle behind the “Cut It Out” program is that a woman involved in an abusive relationship may be more likely to confide in her hair stylist – a person whom she trusts – than to seek assistance from law enforcement agencies. If the client confides that she is involved in an abusive relationship, the hair stylist can advise her on how to get help.

The program is based on a model that originated in Alabama several years ago and is now in place in cities such as Chicago and New York. Five salons in Cambridge took part in a pilot program that began last spring. Five other salons began participating later in the year, and two more were set to join in February, according to Alexandra Detjens, the Cambridge Department of Public Health’s violence prevention coordinator.

Detjens said the initial training sessions were designed in part to help city officials gauge the project’s usefulness.

”We understood that [a hair salon] is a very busy environment,” she said. “We wanted to know, is [this kind of program] helpful? Is it useful? Would you use it if it were available?”

She said that all of the salons that have participated in the program have had clients who are experiencing domestic abuse.

In one instance, “A stylist saw the injuries to a client’s scalp and knew she couldn’t go forward with the treatment without a discussion of the cause,” Detjens said. “That was an easy one for her to have that kind of conversation.

“It’s the other ones, the ones that people don’t want to talk about, that are more challenging.”

Stylists who are too aggressive in their questioning run the risk of driving away customers. In some cases, Detjens said, “It’s really hard to express your concern. That’s a personal decision for the stylist.”

A public service announcement created by local filmmakers notes that up to 23 percent of the homicides in Massachusetts are related to domestic abuse. The three-minute video, which has been posted on YouTube, consists of a series of brief remarks by hair stylists participating in the Cut It Out program.

For more information, contact Alexandra Detjens at (617) 665-3816.