New Nova Scotia Trade Recognizes Black Beauty Culture
HALIFAX—People who want to learn how to perform natural hair care services, or have their skills recognized, can soon become certified practitioners in Nova Scotia.
As of April 14, The Black Beauty Culture Hair Innovator is now officially a voluntary trade in Nova Scotia.
Natural hair care practitioners consult on, design, and perform hair care services for people with textured hair that’s typically associated with, but not limited to, people with African heritage.
Samantha Dixon Slawter is the owner of Styles By SD salon and the co-founder of the Black Beauty Cultural Association, which advocates for more inclusivity in the beauty industry. Through the association, Dixon Slawter made the application that eventually led to the Black Beauty Culture Hair Innovator being recognized as a trade in Nova Scotia.
Dixon Slawter says she’s happy it’s finally happened but that it’s been a very long time coming; she’s been trying to get Black beauty culture recognized as a trade in the province for decades.
“The process has been long. I’ve actually been requesting an apprenticeship for the Black community for at least 30 years,” she tells Huddle.
People with textured hair often struggle to find stylists that know how to work with their natural hair. Dixon Slawter wanted to create a system that gave those folks better access to services. She also wanted to create more economic opportunities for people already practicing, or who were interested in practicing, those skills.
“I believe that something should be put in place where we can train—someone, everyone, should be allowed to be trained on Black beauty culture,” she says.
“Really what I was looking for was equal care for all hair types and textures—and that’s what we’re hoping the Black Beauty Culture apprenticeship does, offer equal care for hair of all types and textures.”
Marjorie Davison is the CEO of the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency. She explains that to establish Black Beauty Cultural Innovator as a voluntary trade in Nova Scotia, the agency worked with people already practicing it to define the skills that make up that occupation.
Now that the designation is official, the province can develop an occupational standard for the trade. From that, they will design a training program, which Davison says will be available soon.
As a voluntary trade, people may choose to participate in the program and receive certification, but certification isn’t necessary for people to provide natural hair care services in Nova Scotia.
“It was so important we recognize the cultural elements of the application and to recognize that these skills have been in practice for generations within our African Nova Scotian communities and other communities across the province. We wanted to recognize that and at the same time provide a pathway for training and certification that could lead to fuller apprenticeship and more commercial opportunities for their communities,” Davison says.
Dixon Slawter says she hopes the new training programs will help bolster the social and economic development of Nova Scotia’s Black community.
“I’m hoping that it adds to the social aspects of life, as well as economic aspects of life,” she says. “I’m hoping we get more business, we get more education, and that people will take advantage of the service.”
She hopes having more people in the province offering Black beauty services will also help make those services more accessible.
Trevor Nichols is the associate editor of Huddle, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].