By Alanna Petroff
Next time people in Ottawa’s African and Caribbean community sit down in their local salon for a wash, cut and blow-dry, they may be surprised when their stylist starts talking about HIV and AIDS.
A new city-run project called Operation Hairspray encourages hairstylists and barbers to educate their African and Caribbean clientele about HIV and AIDS prevention, says project manager Zhaida Uddin.
The year-old project currently has 17 hairstylists and barbers who are trained to speak with their clients about the issue, says Uddin.
People with an African or Caribbean heritage are one of the highest HIV and AIDS risk groups in Ottawa, says Uddin, making the outreach program extremely important.
In fact, Uddin says according to data collected in 2001, one-quarter of all reported HIV cases in Ottawa came from this community.
Salons taking part in the program are given information pamphlets, pens and condoms to hand out to clients, she says.
While some clients are surprised to see free condoms handed out at the salon reception and in the bathrooms, one barber says he thinks the unconventional strategy has been very effective.
“At first there were a lot of questions … especially when they saw the condoms out. That sparked conversation,” says Ralston Cole, co-owner of Fades Hair Salon on Somerset Street. But despite the initial surprise, Cole says “the condoms go pretty quickly.”
“I think it’s very positive. It’s a non-intrusive way of educating the public,” he says.
“It doesn’t require a lot of time on our part. Generally most of the time people take the pamphlets themselves. It’s just letting them see that the information is there and available.”
Despite the population’s high risk status, Uddin says there had been no previous programs that dealt with this type of health issue.
In an attempt to raise awareness about the problem and advertise the city’s health services, Uddin says she decided to use hairstylist volunteers because people generally spend a lot of time in salons and conversations flow easily.
“Surely in that amount of time, some information exchange could happen,” says Uddin.
Volunteers agree that salons are an ideal place to educate members of the community about these issues.
“A hair salon is a good place to talk about (HIV and AIDS) because people have to take some time, sit down and relax. So you get into all kinds of conversations,” says Claudette Fagan, one of the hairstylist volunteers.
“The nature of the business is like sitting in a psychiatrist’s chair,” says Cole. “People will talk to you about stuff they don’t normally talk about.”
After agreeing to take part in the project, stylists and barbers are trained individually by Uddin and a nurse to give out accurate information about HIV and AIDS.
Uddin says the volunteers are provided with large binders containing basic HIV and AIDS information and contact phone numbers for local community health services.
The stylists are also given log sheets to record clients’ reactions and keep track of the number of times they discuss the issue in their salon.
These log sheets are then analyzed by Uddin to gauge the general community’s reaction to the project.
Hoping to expand this pilot project further, Uddin says the next step for Operation Hairspray is to form partnerships with community health centres in Ottawa to get them involved as well.