Hair Bears
Haircuts for the Challenged
In 2014, Jessica Leach started a company called Hair Bears. She had gone to the hairdressers with her aunt, who suffers from both physical and mental disabilities. Ms. Leach realized that a process as personal as getting your hair cut can be very stressful for children with disabilities. In what other industry do you regularly go somewhere to have them cut off part of your body?
In Hair Bears, which caters to children with social, physical, or learning disorders, the hairdresser (Ms. Leach’s mother) uses techniques that are designed to put the children at ease, such as sensory therapy and other distraction methods. From the initial realization of a basic challenge which many people experience, Jessica Leach developed a business which not only makes money, but helps people all at the same time.
Ms. Leach plans to expand her brand by training other hairdressers in the area to use similar techniques, and certify them to have followed her strategy and standards. She hopes to eventually have certified salons all over the country!
I love business that make the basic goods and services that most people take for granted available to those who have traditionally been excluded from them. I am always humbled when I encounter a new area in which I never new how privileged I was: I had never really thought about how challenging it must be for some people to go through a process that I don’t have to think twice about!
I’d be really interested to hear more about the techniques and services Ms. Leach uses in her salon. Often, this king of alternative, accessible service can be a bit pricey, so I am always interested to hear about entrepreneurs who come up with creative ways to offer an expanded service for a comparable price.
This is such an awesome idea of a company. There is definitely a need for companies like this in the world. I was once in a barber shop and one of the kids getting a haircut was screaming, kicking, and even biting the haircutter to get away. A company like this would have been such a great for that child. This is even good for kids that do not have problems but are just fearful of the haircutter. I know that there were times when I was getting a haircut and I was terrified seeing scissors so close to my face. Jessica Leach has come up with a great idea.
This is an incredible innovation. Leach saw a problem and chose to do something about it, and that is exactly what entrepreneurs do. Hair Bears solved a problem with an everyday task that people overlook; it saw children who needed the approach to cutting their hair to be done in a different way. Training others in this new hair cutting technique is a great way to expand business and reach out to help more children and their parents. Many people would love the opportunity to be able to take advantage of this wonderful service.
This is a great service that serves an overlooked problem and community. I would have never even thought of this as a need or problem. I guess once you get passed a certain level of ignorance problems can really start to show themselves.