Envy Professional at SGS joins Strands for Trans

Envy Professional at SGS Stroud College in Stratford Road has become the first salon in the county to join Strands for Trans, a global network of hair and beauty organisations which ‘seek to create and inspire safe and positive experiences for all guests’.

Stylist Issie Hammond – who will help to organiser Stroud Pride in June – started working at the salon last year.

Since then she has tried to help make the salon more inclusive.

Salon manager Laura Tinney said: “Izzy has been good at helping us move the salon into a more inclusive space for everybody.

“We joined Strands for Trans and it’s growing more and more, we are the only ones in Gloucestershire in it.

“Historically, salons have been gendered – you would go to a salon for a women and a barber’s shop for a man.

“But that left the trans community unsure of where to go.

“We are trying to make the whole community feel welcomed and a safe space for everybody.

“We had to do some training with the team, which is learning about gender euphoria and how to use pronouns correctly.

“By registering with Stands for Trans, we offer gender affirming procedures, such as a gender affirming haircut or hair colour, waxing, browshaping and nails, all in a safe and inclusive place for our trans and non-binary client base.

“We also offer sensory friendly appointments when the salon is closed, we can have the lights low and music off if that's what the client needs.

“We also have disabled ramp plus unisex toilets.

“Safe Space and the Night Angels are also working with us, offering a safe space to anyone who feels unsafe and or in danger.

"We are just trying to make Envy Professional as inclusive as we can for SGS students and the wider public.”