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LA’s Underground Haircut Scene Is Poppin’ Right Now
It's nowhere near as essential as food or shelter. But let's face it: We could all use a haircut right now.
Barbershops and hair salons are among the businesses that have been closed for two months now under L.A.'s "Safer at Home" order. Stylists and shaggy Californians are getting desperate. And some have found an outlet: illicit, home haircuts.
Carmelle, who has worked as a stylist for 22 years, started offering her services on Craigslist when she was mistakenly told she couldn't collect unemployment insurance. She has been seeing clients, many of them men, at her home-turned-salon.
“Some of them just be like, ‘I tried to get my wife to cut my hair with the dog clippers, and this is what I got,” she said, laughing. “And I be like, ‘We can fix it.’”
READ MORE ABOUT CARMELLE AND OTHER CLANDESTINE STYLISTS:
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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