More than just the start of summer, June is Pride Month and a powerful reminder of the ongoing fight for equality, visibility, and inclusion for the LGBTQIA2S+ community. For salons, it’s also an opportunity to take meaningful steps toward creating truly inclusive and affirming spaces—not just for Pride Month, but year-round.
One way to do that is by joining HAIR HAS NO GENDER™ NFP (HHNG) a nonprofit organization committed to eliminating gendered service pricing, promoting inclusive practices, and ensuring that every salon is a place of belonging for LGBTQIA+ clients and professionals.
“This Pride Month, we're calling on the beauty community to turn their spaces into powerful platforms for advocacy, education, and equality,” says Jamie DiGrazia, Founder of HAIR HAS NO GENDER™ NFP, Sam Villa Ambassador and Owner of Logan Parlor Salon.
As hairstylists, salon owners, and beauty professionals, we have a unique opportunity to serve as allies and advocates through the work we do every day. Our chairs can be more than styling stations—they can be safe spaces, places of empowerment, and platforms for change.
As a leader of the movement in the professional industry, DiGrazia offers insight into 5 ways salons can make an impact during Pride month.
5 Ways Salons Can Make an Impact During Pride Month
1. Be Visible
Visibility matters. A HHNG Allied Space Badge in your salon and on social media tells LGBTQIA+ clients: “You are safe here.”
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Add your salon to the HHNG Affirming Service Finder so new guests know they’re walking into a welcoming environment.
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Share your commitment on social media and encourage others to do the same.
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Include signage like the HHNG exterior barber pole cling or HRC equal sign to your mirror or door to show support year-round.
2. Educate and Advocate
Understanding the issues your clients face helps you better serve them—not just in technique, but in empathy.
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Participate in educational programs like L’Oreal Access Safe Space Learning Series featuring Jamie DiGrazia and industry experts, business professionals and stylists who are detailing how to create a more inclusive salon experience.
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Normalize inclusive language and actions each and every day. Ask for pronouns during booking, on staff name tags, and in all guest interactions and celebrate inclusive practices like all-gender restrooms and pronoun pins.
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Start conversations with your team and clients about the impact of gender-based pricing and why it no longer belongs in the modern salon.
As DiGrazia says: “We wouldn’t pay our employees based on gender—why charge clients that way?”
3. Show Up for the Community
Supporting Pride is about showing up when it counts. This includes:
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Speaking out against anti-LGBTQ+ language
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Celebrating with purpose like attending local Pride events or parades with your team and displaying stickers and signs (rainbow sticker, HHNG barber pole cling, or HRC equal sign) to show your support.
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Host a Pride fundraiser in your salon to support and promote HHNG’s grassroots fundraising initiatives. Find more ideas for fundraising here.
These small touches signal something big, that your space is one of belonging.
4. Be an Ally, Always
Allyship is a commitment each and every day. It’s about standing up, speaking out, and showing support.
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Stay informed by reading LGBTQIA+ media like LGBTQ Nation.
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Use your social media platforms to amplify marginalized voices.
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Contact beauty associations to demand accountability and advocate for equitable practices—especially around illegal gender-based pricing.
5. Volunteer: Style with Purpose with Sam Villa Tools
Hair is a powerful tool of self-expression. Offering affirming services can be life-changing for LGBTQIA+ youth.
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Volunteer your time and skills to support LGBTQ+ youth. HHNG recently supported youth at the Center on Halsted’s Queer Prom, helping with affirming hair and grooming services. Stylist Claudia Halina says, “Hair Has No Gender and Queer Prom are so powerful in giving the youth places to find themselves unapologetically through hair, makeup, and clothes.”
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Offer free or sliding scale affirming haircuts.
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Lead styling lessons for trans and nonbinary youth.
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Host workshops in collaboration on self-expression through hair.
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Sign up for the HHNG newsletter to get connected with volunteer opportunities and start giving back.
Let’s use our platforms—our stations, our scissors, our salons and our voices—to make an impact. Salons have the power to change not just appearances, but lives. By embracing inclusive practices, challenging outdated norms, and showing up, we can intentionally build a more future with fairness and inclusivity at the center.
To join the movement, donate, or access free educational resources, visit www.hairhasnogender.org.
All funds raised support inclusive education and salon training, public awareness campaigns and advocacy for fair pricing and LGBTQIA+ rights in beauty.
