Ralph Ellison, a famous African American writer, literary critic, and scholar, completed a series of essays in Shadow and Act that highlighted the many social differences that shape black and white America. He held the African American barber shop in high esteem and proclaimed its importance as an institution as higher than secondary for the African American man because it was a place of self-expression.
In Shadow and Act Ellison writes: “There is no place like a Negro barber shop where you can hear what Negroes really think. There's more unconscious affirmation here on a Saturday than in a Negro college in a month, or so it seems to me. "
This quote from Ellison reveals the historical impact African American barber shops had on the African American community as they addressed a wide range of topics. It also shows a fundamental support for the therapeutic practices that take place in these barber shops.
As Ellison was writing the essays that would make up the Shadow and Act, the nation was navigating uncharted waters with many individuals, particularly African Americans, demanding equality. Although there were many pressing issues, inequalities in terms of employment and education were primarily addressed. African American men were severely affected by discriminatory practices.
Unfortunately, some of these inequalities still persist today, although great strides have been made. A considerable body of research shows that the emotional effects of inequality can cause problems such as mild, moderate, or major depression, anxiety, and other health problems, including high blood pressure, related to life stressors such as employment and finance. Although hairdressers are usually not officially trained to address psychological issues, African American barber shops offer individuals the opportunity to express and address issues that affect their lives.
Researchers have identified several factors that are responsible for the emergence of the hair salon as the epicenter of the African American mental health discourse. These factors include the historical and cultural distrust of health professionals in the African American community and the low number of mental health professionals. In particular, the behavior of African Americans in seeking help was driven by distrust of formal health care facilities and a propensity for faith-based interventions.
The article by Earlise Ward et al. Mental health stigma has been attributed to increased suicide rates among African American men, as well as problems with education, married life, employment, and general quality of life. According to Felecia Wilkins' 2019 article, Communicating Mental Illness in the Black American Community, fewer African-American men tend to seek mental health services to address their problems. However, it is possible for African American men to receive psychiatric services through alternative non-formal and non-medical facilities such as the African American hair salon.
The non-judgmental, discursive, yet intimate environment in barber shops prompts individuals not only to seek them out to socialize, but also to receive and share information, including their personal concerns or challenges, from and with others. African-American men with diverse challenges who need input and support to meet their needs or improve their personal wellbeing can therefore see the hair salon as a viable platform to receive solution-oriented advice and information.
African American hairdressers: confidants and advisers
Many African American hairdressers have unique relationships with their clients and serve as confidants and informal advisors. The importance of this relationship has been captured in several literary works and films over the years. For example, in the 1988 film Coming to America, we see comedic but intense scenes between the African American barber and his clients regarding relationship counseling. In the 2002 film Barbershop, Eddie (played by Cedric the Entertainer) explains the historical roles the African-American barber had, including a consultant, fashion expert, and style coach.
Many may wonder why hairdressers are so important in the African American community, and especially by African American men. As Erica Taylor explains in Little Known Black History Fact: History of the Black Barbershop on blackamericaweb.com, the first notable position for newly liberated African American men was to be a barber. Taylor further notes that sustainable financial security and professional integrity came with the profession. Hence, it is likely that many African American men viewed the role of hairdresser as notable, even when wealthy white clients viewed the job as unskilled.
Historically, the African American community has viewed business ownership, and particularly barber shop ownership, as a symbol of wealth. In an article from 1989 entitled "Black Owned Businesses in the South, 1790-1880" Loren Schweninger highlighted the hairdressing career of John Carruthers Stanly. Stanly, an emancipated slave, became one of the richest businessmen in North Carolina. He owned a barber shop while in slavery, and by the time he was freed from its owners, he had gained a favorable reputation for his business prowess. A related story in the Colorado Virtual Library shows the accomplishment of another businessman, Barney Ford, who started out as a barber shop owner and eventually became a hotelier and real estate tycoon. Taken together, these and several other cases underscore the appreciation with which the African American community maintains barber shops and their operators. African American hairdressers are considered respectable individuals who can be entrusted with the innermost feelings and emotions of members of the community, especially African American men.
In a 2010 Counseling Today article entitled "Men Are Welcome," Lynne Shallcross wrote that for most men the barber chair is more welcoming and less anxious than the therapist's couch. Perhaps African American men have understood and internalized this term and feel compelled to highlight the platform of African American hairdressers and their barber shops as environments that are not intrusive and welcoming.
A 2019 article entitled “Lined Up: The Evolution of the Black Hair Salon” presents the perspectives of African American hairdressers on the central role of hairdressers in the economic and cultural development of African American communities from Buffalo, New York. to Riverside, California. These perspectives capture the emotional vulnerability of customers towards their hairdressers. One of the hairdressers praised the therapeutic practices in the hair salon and his role as an informal therapist. This means that a good hairdresser is inevitably required to be a good advisor or confidante, as many people who introduce themselves for haircuts also take the opportunity to discuss their personal problems, including mental health challenges.
African American Men and Mental Health Problems
In the 2011 article, “Getting Professional and Informal Assistance from Black Men with Mental Health Disorders,” Amanda Toler Woodward and colleagues reported that African American men were less likely to use mental health services. At the same time, according to an article by K.O. Conner and colleagues on aging and mental health. In particular, African American men are more likely to be unemployed for longer periods of time and more exposed to violence, harassment and discrimination in their communities. Worse still, according to Conner and colleagues, African American men are more likely to be stigmatized because of mental health issues.
James Price and Jagdish Khubchandani reported an alarming increase in suicide among young African American men in an article titled "The Changing Characteristics of Suicides in African American Adolescents, 2001-2017". According to the authors, the suicide rate among African Americans increased by 60% from 2001 to 2017, with young African Americans more likely to die from suicide by using firearms (52%) or hanging / choking themselves (34%). Conner and colleagues said that African American men continue to struggle with insurmountable opportunities related to unemployment, police brutality, and other stressors that lead to increased emotional and psychological distress.
Research shows that mental health problems are rarely discussed in the African American community and are particularly related to how they affect individuals, groups, families and the community. Typically, African American men are socialized to deal with difficulties or problems alone or with close friends and family members, not with the help of outsiders such as professional mental health providers.
Programs such as the Confess Project understand the community's influence in managing mental health and general wellbeing issues. For example, the Confess project created a solution to fill the gap in mental health service delivery by exploring the possibility of training African American hairdressers. This relates to Ellison's position that the knowledge-based facility of the African American hair salon could stand above other facilities in treating the mental health problems of African American men.
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SFBT and the African American hairdresser
The Confess Project Barber Coalition program appears to use a form of solution-oriented brief therapy (SFBT) that recognizes hairdressers' coaching skills and helps them encourage African American men to talk about emotional health. Coaching as defined by the SkillsYouNeed website involves improving mental and physical agility by staying in the present instead of the past or future. As suggested by F.P. In a 2007 article by Bannink, SFBT focuses on the fact that people's ideas about the nature of their problems, competencies and possible solutions in everyday life are interpreted in communication with others. Communication in daily life is a form of staying in the present that is often observed in barber shops.
In a 2014 article, James Lightfoot stated that a large part of SFBT's strength is to free the process from focusing too deeply on the problem and paying more attention to the solution and the future than the past. In contrast to traditional therapy, in which clients could get stuck in their past due to the repetition of traumatic experiences, SFBT supports clients in looking positively into the future in order to change their behavior.
SFBT was developed as a short term intervention by Steven de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg and focuses on the identification and motivation of problems, the miracle problem, the possibility, the hope, the scaling / goal building, exceptions, coping, trust / strength and Feedback. The core function therefore shifts the focus from mental illness to mental health and, according to Bannink, changes the role of the advisor from an active role to that of a moderator or trainer. The apparent intent of the Confess project is to promote mental health rather than mental illness in the African American community through African American barber shops.
Ellison's quote ended with an understanding that African American barber shops provide an opportunity for self-expression. This has a certain connection with the “miracle question” proposed in SFBT, with which clients can describe what they expect from therapy as a method of self-expression. Ellison and de Shazer, therefore, subtly admit that the interactions in the hairdressing salon and the treatment modalities occurring in the SFBT promote and encourage both forms of self-expression and emotional connection.
As a mental health counselor and advocate, I (Marcie Watkins) understand the value of the mental health hair salon in the African American community. My husband Brandon was a hairdresser in the early stages of our marriage. I believe that he later chose a career in consulting / human services based on his experience as a hairdresser. My husband often shared that the barber shop was a community and weekly sanctuary for African American men. A sense of pride was built when a man with minimal budget could come to the hair salon for a haircut, therapy, relaxation, and socialization – all in one package.
My husband stated, “Choosing a hairdresser to cut your hair and pay him your hard earned money is a true sign of confidence. If a man can trust you to cut his hair, he will entrust you with every secret and problem just like you would with a therapist. “As such, the qualities of a therapist and a hairdresser are synonymous in the African American community. Barbers hear of important life events because a haircut precedes weddings, funerals, and other special activities that require "a fresh cut". As such, my husband also stated, “If a man trusts you to make him look his best, he will trust you to tell you something. This trust would be passed on to his son and grandchildren for many generations. "
As a mental health attorney, I partnered with Jetaun Bailey and Bryan Gere, both professions at a historic black university near my hometown, to educate African Americans about the importance of seeking and receiving mental health. During a conversation about mental health, Ellison's quote was introduced, which led to a long discussion among us. During our discussion we exchanged experiences from observing the dynamic exchange in African American barber shops, in which the owners / barbers seemingly acted as intermediaries / trainers and several patrons took on the role of group members. We also noticed that the exchange got hot at times. We found, however, that the hairdresser exuded qualities similar to those of a group leader or trainer – like those of an SFBT consultant – to control the conversations and ensure everyone had a voice.
We also agreed that a touch of "call and answer" was poured into the exchange between the patrons and the owners / hairdressers. Call and answer are rooted in African American culture. This form of expression is woven into African American music, religious gatherings, and public conversations. For example, a user could use a solution-oriented technique by asking a miracle question. The question might be, "Man, what would you do if you had a million dollars?" One answer could be: "Get out of debt." After that, one or more users can make a phone call: "Can I get an Amen?" As such, this patron calls on everyone to respond in a unified agreement on the answer “Out of debt”.
The phrase sets of author, educator, and counselor Samuel Gladding, a past president of the American Counseling Association, can be closely aligned with call and answer. Gladding recommends expression groups – for example, with creative arts, music, and literature – to reach out to the African American population. These groups may reflect the starting point for the delivery of calls and responses. Gladding notes that common positive values among African Americans include creative expression.
Our observation shows that the patrons of the hairdressing salon with this appeal and this answer stay in the present while they are coached or guided by the hairdresser, which is the core of the counseling relationship in SFBT. This discussion led to the development of a presentation during Black History Month in Spring 2019 at a historically black university in Alabama. The presentation was titled "Studying the Effects of Barber Shops on Mental Health of African American People: Are Barbers Untrained Solution-Oriented Counselors?"
Group presentation
About 75 attendees, mostly students and some faculties and staff, attended our presentation, which sparked a lot of dialogue and generated some potential recommendations to encourage African American men to seek formal counseling in more traditional ways. Students were encouraged to interfere during the presentation (as is the case with the traditional call and response method used in the African American community) rather than waiting until the end. When a student felt the need for comment, they were encouraged to raise their hands and wait for the moderator to acknowledge them to speak.
Based on the feedback from the participants, we cannot conclusively state that African American hairdressers have innate characteristics that correspond to those of SFBT consultants. In light of the responses received, it appears that African American hairdressers share characteristics similar to client-centered counselors in that they are actively involved in the exchange process of the discussion, such as sharing their own personal struggles. Participants believed that this customer-centric approach of African American hairdressers was developed through years of listening and interacting with different people.
On the other hand, the participants were of the opinion that the customers of the hairdressing salon in general have the characteristics of solution-oriented customers because they come to the hairdressing salon and know what they want to express and discuss. This suggests that customers are taking on the role of “expert” because they are able to open the dialogue without hesitation and expect a positive outcome. This could suggest that SFBT could serve as an effective "gateway" therapy method for African American men. This approach could likely give them a sense of authority over their problems and encourage them to explore more therapeutic approaches when their problems require deeper self-assessment.
Some of the students and some of the staff had once worked as trained and untrained hairdressers to support themselves during their training. They jointly agreed that the barber shop would be a central point of contact for various companies in the African American communities. In these barber shops, customers will find flyers, brochures and leaflets on everything from soul food restaurants to personal trainers. As such, one student said, "So why not mental health?" He further suggested that grants could potentially be written by local and state agencies to regularly give mental health presentations in barber shops. He noted that impromptu presentations are routinely done in barber shops, for example when someone is promoting a hair show or concert.
Recommendations and conclusions
African American men are believed to use community support services rather than professional help in coping with life stressors. This method of support is not necessarily recognized by mainstream research, but recognized by other avenues, such as the quote from Ralph Ellison, as a place of self-expression. While not a substitute for professional advice, the hair salon could be a window for improving mental health care for deeper psychological problems. As the literature reports, programs like the Confess project are successful in educating hairdressers to identify mental health problems. Other mental health institutions could follow suit to reach this population or simply to network with this organization. Mental health agencies associated with African American hairdressers will continue to promote and reshape their scope within the African American community as they move from counselors to advocates in the mental health community.
Some community support is believed to go to mental health support, and perhaps the African American barber shop should continue to be recognized as one of those support systems. By educating African American men through their most valuable facility, the hair salon, mental health providers can potentially reach a future generation who suffers in silence.
A worthwhile goal would be to reduce / remove the mental health stigma in the African American community by developing the hairdresser's role as an advocate for change, as the African American hair salon legacy is deeply ingrained. It was one of the few early occupations that gave African slaves and freed men financial stability, pride, voice, and prestige, and it gave others the opportunity to express themselves. In the future, the institution can be used as a catalyst for change. This change can take the form of an emphasis on mental health rather than identifying mental illness.
Although SFBT could not be directly associated with the characteristics of an African American hairdresser or his patrons as experts, the theory promotes mental health rather than mental illness. Mental health embodies our emotional, psychological, and social connections, giving everyone a voice of self-expression rather than hiding behind the curtains of shame or stigma associated with mental illness.
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Marcie Watkins is an Associate Licensed Professional Consultant, PhD student and co-owner of Solution4Success. Contact Marcie at [email protected].
Jetaun Bailey is a Licensed Professional Advisor, Certified School Advisor, and Evaluator. Contact Jetaun at [email protected].
Bryan Gere is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and a Certified Rehabilitation Advisor. Contact Bryan at [email protected].
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Opinions and statements in articles appearing on CT Online should not be assumed to reflect the opinions of the editors or guidelines of the American Counseling Association.
