Quiet comfort and curly hair care: the unique offerings of Black Sheep Salon

This Long Beach salon focuses on curly-hair, neurodiverse and disabled clients.

Does a haircut free from the obligatory small talk with your stylist sound like a dream? Then Black Sheep Salon in the Wrigley neighborhood of Long Beach is the place for you.

Owner Marie Rolla opened Black Sheep Salon in 2021 to provide specialized services for neurodiverse, disabled and curly-haired clients. As an autistic woman herself, Rolla’s personal experience informs the services she provides for her clients. 

Those who book an appointment can expect a wide range of accommodation available upon request: earplugs to prevent water and shampoo from getting in their ears; fragrance-free products or a product-free haircut; barber chairs that can hold up to 800 pounds and that can be moved to make space for a wheelchair; a portable shampoo sink for clients who can’t get out of their wheelchair; and a chat-free service for a blissfully silent experience. 

“The places I was working weren’t the best situations for my clients that I was bringing in, and there was just definitely a big disconnect in the level of discomfort, where a lot of my textured-hair clients weren’t being served as correctly or safely,” Rolla said of hair salons she worked at before. “As well as just noticing […] that there really wasn’t a lot of access to hair care for disabled people, or people with limited abilities to do their hair. There’s a large demographic of people that just were not being serviced and I didn’t necessarily feel comfortable in the spaces that I was servicing them.”

When the pandemic hit in 2020, salons were closed and Rolla had extra free time on her hands. She used that time to educate herself online about how to specifically care for curly hair and natural hair patterns.

She began to envision a salon that would not only focus on those with curly or kinky hair, but also the disabled and neurodiverse communities—people who are not typically catered to in the average salon.

“I have had clients that haven’t been able to fit into chairs and I’ve seen a lot of really uncomfortable experiences,” Rolla said. “And I had a really hard time finding an owner that was on board with the things that I was on board with. And I got really frustrated. And so I had a vision and I decided to go for it and I’m here now.”

Rolla was surprised by the level of support her business received after she began offering specialized services.

“I began taking a lot of clients and I was shocked at a lot of things, I was shocked at the number of my clients that were comfortable with me doing their hair having little to no experience working with textured hair, being comfortable seeing, you know, a non-Black person and being able to service them. And I realized that was because there was really not anybody else doing that kind of work.”

At first glance, potential clients may balk at the relatively high prices Black Sheep Salon charges. A haircut can range from $95 to $250 depending on the stylist and type of haircut, with the addition of bleach or hair dye, services can reach up to $500.

But Rolla explained that their prices are set to provide a livable wage to the stylists, who she says are all breadwinners for the family, and many of whom are disabled.

According to US News Money, the median salary for hair stylists in the country is $29,670. Meanwhile, the average median income in the US as of 2019 is $86,011, according to the White House.

Besides a lower-than-average annual income, many hairstylists don’t receive benefits from their job, such as health insurance. This is particularly concerning in light of the health risks involved.

According to a 2022 article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, hairdressers have a higher rate of certain health problems compared to the general population, including rhinitis, asthma, contact dermatitis and reproductive issues. The same study found evidence that this is caused by the chemicals hairdressers are exposed to during their work day, including ammonia and formaldehyde.

“It’s not even just color, the styling products that I’m touching all day for 12 hours a day, 10 hours a day, just constantly exposed to chemicals, like the air quality from the blow dries from the chemicals that I’m breathing in all day […],” Rolla said “It’s hard when you see the high service price points to understand what it might feel like to be in our shoes and what this looks like. But it’s a very, very hard job. And it’s not a very safe job. It’s a very dangerous job.”

Despite the challenges intrinsic to her line of work, Rolla and the rest of the stylists at Black Sheep Salon remain dedicated to providing a safe place for everyone to get their hair done.

Black Sheep Salon is open Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The salon is closed Wednesday, Sunday and Monday. To learn more or book an appointment, visit www.blacksheepsalonlbc.com/.