Cut It Out Cambridge: Engaging Community Hair Salons in Domestic Violence Prevention

The Cambridge Public Health Department, in partnership with the Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women, launched Cut It Out Cambridge (CIOC) in late spring 2009. Cut It Out Cambridge is an innovative domestic violence awareness program that trains hair salon stylists to recognize signs of abuse in their clients and to safely refer them to local resources. Based on a national program, CIOC has been tailored to meet the specific needs of the Cambridge, MA community.

Cambridge stylists state that missing or ragged/ripped hair, bruises, and injuries to the scalp are some of the visible signs of domestic violence they encounter. Stylists also report difficulty in expressing their concerns for fear of losing a paying customer. Finally, an unusually high percentage of stylists identified themselves as victims of domestic violence.

This presentation will focus on lessons learned from the initial training provided to Cambridge stylists, which has led to follow-up trainings, recruitment of new salons, and developing additional opportunities to engage stylists in domestic violence prevention and awareness activities.

By the end of the session, the participant will be able to identify the unique trainings specifically designed to work with Cambridge hair stylists; the response from stylists to learn about domestic violence and how to help their clients; and the unique setting salons offer as a place for talking about relationships, prevention, safety and health outcomes of domestic violence relationships.