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A Saskatoon-based Indigenous business is eliminating the barriers for seniors to get a haircut, by bringing the salon to their door.
Sacred Shears launched its Senior Mobile Hair Care Program on Mar. 4, providing services in places like retirement homes and assisted living centres.
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Maya Rabbitskin, the business’s founder, said the idea came from her Kookum, or grandmother, who passed away.
“I didn’t have a chance to learn her stories. Like I wanted to always brush and style her hair when I was a kid and stuff and now that she’s gone, I don’t have that opportunity,” Rabbitskin said.
But, with this program now, “I can go meet everybody’s Kookums,” she said, adding how listening to the stories of Elders is how a person evolves.
“Plus a lot of seniors have funny stories, too. Really funny stories,” Sacred Shears business partner Melanie Berryman said.
Though it’s mobile, according to Rabbitskin, Sacred Shears provides all the services you’d expect in a salon. That includes bringing a sink to wash people’s hair, along with styling and colouring tools.
Since its launch last week, Rabbitskin’s had one client sign up for the program.
Berryman said the woman was, “so happy” to have that visiting time to talk with someone. Plus, the home setting offered a much more intimate experience compared to a salon, according to Berryman.
Although the program is described as “honouring our Elders,” on Sacred Shears’ social media, the business isn’t limiting the service to Indigenous customers. Instead, Rabbitskin said it’s for “anybody,” with people able to make a booking online or by phone.
Maya Rabbitskin, founder of Sacred Shears, said she loves spending time with seniors and listening to their stories, “because they carry so much knowledge and life experience.” (Sacred Shears/Facebook)
Cultural significance of hair
While the program is open to everyone, Rabbitskin still blends her Indigenous culture into her work.
She explained how in many Indigenous teachings hair is sacred, serving as an extension of a person and holding onto memories and traumas.
Hair also connects the mind, body, and spirit.
“That’s why the braid is so important for their culture,” she said, with the strands of a braid representing a balance between the three.
The only time Rabbitskin cuts her hair is near a full moon, during what she described as a “releasing ceremony.”
It’s about “getting rid of all the stuff that’s held you back… or you just want to move on from it,” she said.
This cultural awareness around hair impacts how Rabbitskin approaches her job as a hair stylist.
“We’re taught to always have good intentions when we’re doing people’s hair, because what we think and how we feel goes on to that person’s body,” she said.
It’s a lesson she actually learned from her Kookum, who told her to think positive thoughts when dealing with people.
Beyond mindsets, Rabbitskin also offers to keep client’s hair in a bag if they request it.
That’s because in Indigenous culture, the majority of people are taught to “keep their hair together,” she said.
It has to do with a story about a snake who can pick up loose hair clippings and, in doing so, hold on to a piece of you. It can “take hold of your soul,” Rabbitskin explained.
So, by keeping the hair bundled up in a bag, she can burn it when the full moon comes.
Rabbitskin said Sacred Shears is hoping to go into schools and facilitate sessions about lice removal, showing children the basic fundamentals of how to take care of themselves and removing the stigma. (Sacred Shears/Facebook)
More than just haircuts
Sacred Shears does more than haircuts, though, also offering manicures, pedicures, massages, makeup and even lice removal.
It’s a service Rabbitskin wanted to offer after her own negative experiences growing up.
As a kid in Prince Albert, she said her aunties would bring her to the salon. But, she remembers being pushed out by employees who shamed her for having lice.
“They were loud about it,” she said, and recalls being embarrassed.
“Like, I felt dirty,” Rabbitskin said.
That experience stuck with her and she stopped going to get her hair done. Instead, her auntie would cut her hair — although, laughing at the memory, Rabbitskin said that was “traumatic” since her auntie didn’t know what she was doing.
Berryman said this reaction towards lice isn’t unique to Rabbitskin.
“Working as a barber in a salon in Saskatoon, I’ve seen how some people react to (lice), and people get turned away and they’re not going to come back,” she said.
By offering lice removal, Berryman said the business treats it like, “a non-issue, because it is. It’s really, you’re just getting a comb out.”
Plus, Sacred Shears has deep-cleaning services where they show people how to clean their bedding, pillows, and couches to ensure the lice is gone.
Sacred Shears is still a new business, having only been fully operational since January. So, Rabbitskin said, “people aren’t really sure that we’re legit.”
Even last week when Rabbitskin went around to retirement homes dropping off flyers about the new seniors program, majority of them “thought of us as solicitors,” she said.
But, Sacred Shears isn’t limiting itself to Saskatoon as it works to gain traction, with plans to bring its mobile services to Sturgeon Landing later this year.
“Our dream is just to make it more accessible, to like bring more services to the people that don’t have access to it,” she said.
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