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Izzy Gallant fondly remembers his first trip to the barbershop before he officially came out as a trans man just over three years ago.
He asked the barber to cut his then long hair ‘high and tight’ and was pleased with the results.
“When I got my haircut it felt phenomenal. I looked in the mirror and it was me!” he said.
Izzy Gallant still sees the same book that gave him his first gender-affirming haircut before he transitioned.
Susan Lapointe / Global News
Gallant had a positive experience and to this day he sees the same book.
“I was really lucky, I want to say,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I’ve heard a lot of bad stories,” he said, adding that many trans and genderqueer friends have had negative experiences when asking barbers or barbers for a big change.
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That’s why he welcomes the initiative of a Bouctouche barbershop that offers free haircuts for the first time to people who want to align their appearance with their chosen gender.
Barber Jesse Mathieu, owner of Le cutting club de Bouctouche barbershop, felt compelled to offer the service because of their experience cutting hair as a non-binary person.
Mathieu said many hairdressers refused to cut their long hair into what is generally considered a men’s haircut before they found someone who agreed to do it when they were living in Montreal in 2015.
“They were like ‘let’s go, let’s do it,’ nothing about ‘are you sure?’ It was just ‘are you ready? let’s go!”
Mathieu said they felt like themselves when they saw their reflection in the mirror.
They’ve already provided this experience to other people, like their client-turned-partner Sarah Idris.
Sarah Idris and the book Jesse Mathieu.
Suzanne Lapointe / Global News
In 2022, Idris was thinking about her hair and how she wanted it to look, as it grew back after a temporary episode of baldness.
“Hair is such an intimate part of your personal identity. People show who they are through their hair and hair styles,” she said.
Like Mathieu, hairdressers also tried to convince her to get out of the haircut she wanted.
“I went to the hairdresser and asked for a haircut and left with a feminine bob, which is really not a great feeling. Especially when you ask for something and they decide for you,” she said.
She went to see Jesse to fix the haircut, and said it felt amazing to see herself the way she described.
“It reflects more who I am and not people’s perceptions of me. To be able to choose for myself how I want to represent myself in the world and how I look,” she said.
Mathieu said people come as far as Moncton, about a 40-minute drive away, to get a haircut in their overall queer space.
“I’ve had several clients come in and say, ‘I really want a change!'” they said. “It was a pretty nice experience, seeing them afterwards, just smiling and saying ‘That’s me!'” they said with a smile. It feels really good because I know what that feeling is and I know how it feels to come out as yourself.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
