What a haircut mean to you?
A new trend?
Getting rid of split ends?
Or is it something more?
For many, it’s just a routine trim.
But for trans and nonbinary people,
it can be a battle for survival—
one fought against discomfort,
fear, and rejection.
Salons and barbershops are often
steeped in rigid gender norms,
turning what should be a simple experience
into an overwhelming one.
What if they refuse to give you
the haircut you need
because
it doesn’t align with their
perception of gender?
These fears aren’t hypothetical.
“I was hurt and humiliated to be unable to get something as basic as a haircut, based on assumptions about who I am and expectations about who I should be.
When you go for a haircut, you don’t expect your barber to police your gender.
A business may think I’m going against God’s will by having short hair, but that doesn’t give it the right to act on that belief and to deny me the same service that it provides to others.”
-Kendall Oliver, denied service in 2016 by a southern California barber, who said it “go[es] against what God has created.”
“Lambda Legal Sues California Barbershop for Refusing to Serve Transgender Customer.” Lambda Legal, 25 May 2016, legacy.lambdalegal.org/blog/20160525_suing-barbershop-refusing-to-serve-transgender-customer#:~:text=Lambda%20Legal%20and%20the%20law,person%20on%20its%20receiving%20end.
For some, haircuts have been weaponized as state-sanctioned violence.
“As a trans woman in Texas prison
I have endured every kind of abuse, assault, degradation, and humiliation that our state’s leaders have thrown at me.
...When I tried to grow my hair out to look like the woman that I am, prison guards would send me to the barber and forcibly shave my head.
...When the state takes away our identity, it reinforces the feeling of being trapped in the wrong body. It humiliates you — like a badge of shame."
-Lilly Anne Hopkins
Hopkins, Lilly Anne. “I Went up against the Texas Legal System’s Anti-Trans Hair Policy - and Won.” ACLU of Texas, 10 Jan. 2024, www.aclutx.org/en/news/i-went-against-texas-legal-systems-anti-trans-hair-policy-and-won.
Burning, Still. “Prison Cell.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 5 Sept. 2005, www.flickr.com/photos/95239135@N00/46442359.
Others face public humiliation and targeted harassment.
“I felt humiliated, discriminated against and frowned upon…
I was dumbfounded and appalled that this type of behavior continues to exist and hope that we can bring an end to this absurd type of discrimination"
-Rose Trevis
““Transgender Man Who Was Denied Service at Long Beach Barbershop Settles Discrimination Lawsuit.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2016, www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-barber-settlement-20160819-snap-story.html.
“...a barbershop in Regina denied me service…
The next day, I told the media I was going to file a human rights complaint, after which hundreds of people took to social media to attack my character, question my motives and publicly humiliate, harass and threaten me."
“I hope someone shoots her in the uterus,” wrote one person on Facebook.
“I’d shut her up by f--kin’ up her haircut,” wrote another.
“Fight the good fight, boys. I’ll help any way I can.”
-Evie Ruddy
“Ruddy, Evie. “The Hair Industry Is Heavily Gendered. Here’s Why That Needs to Change.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 24 Oct. 2021, newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/cutting-through-the-binary/.
These are not isolated events.
They’re part of a larger, systemic effort to erase trans and nonbinary people
In 2024 alone, 672 anti-trans bills¹
were introduced in the United States,
targeting everything from gender-
affirming care to the right to be
addressed by your chosen name.
An executive order even seeks to erase
transgender and nonbinary people from
federal recognition²—as if our identities
are just figments of imagination.
LGBTQ youth are left to navigate
a world determined to erase us.
Nearly half consider suicide
—most of them trans or nonbinary³.
The erasure of identity doesn’t
start with sweeping policies.
It happens in everyday moments:
in doctors’ offices, in workplaces
—and in barbershops.
For trans and nonbinary people,
hair is more than just an aesthetic choice.
It’s a battleground.
Whether it’s restrictive policies or
an outright denial of service,
every interaction with our hair
calls our very existence into question.
Despite this, we continue to fight,
carving out spaces where we can
be seen, affirmed, and safe.
1. “2025 Anti-Trans Bills: Trans Legislation Tracker.” 2025 Anti-Trans Bills: Trans Legislation Tracker, translegislation.com/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
2. “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” The White House, The United States Government, 21 Jan. 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/.
3. Michelotti, Megan. "The Binary Challenges for Non-Binary and Trans Montanans Getting Haircuts." TCA Regional News, Aug 28 2022, ProQuest. Web. 20 Feb. 2025 .