NC salons aren’t just turning heads – they’re saving lives

When you walk into your local hair salon, you’re usually greeted by the aromas of shampoo and hair products. You’ll see combs, scissors and brushes scattered across work spaces. You’ll hear clippers and hair dryers, and stylists chatting with their clients. What you may not expect are conversations surrounding heart health and clients monitoring their blood pressure. But that’s exactly what’s happening in hair salons, barbershops and nail salons across North Carolina.

In 2018, The American Heart Association (AHA) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) partnered to address one of the highest-priority health issues facing North Carolinians: heart disease. Assessments by the AHA found that Black populations living in Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle face a high rate of heart disease risk factors, including diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. Preventive care could help identify these risk factors early, but inequitable access to health services makes doctor visits unobtainable for many. Compounding the issue is a lack of confidence within Black communities that their health concerns will be taken seriously

The AHA and Blue Cross NC found that one way to improve heart health across the state was by reaching those at-risk early on through blood pressure monitoring. But the challenge was how to connect with this population. What would be the best way to cross paths with members in these communities and deliver potentially lifesaving heart health information?

The answer: Go where they go. And train who they trust.

Barbershops and salons are social gathering spots and trusted spaces in the Black community. The relationships built there are unique. Vulnerability flows easily. People can express their feelings and know they’ll find a sympathetic ear. Simply put, it’s a safe place.

“I grew up going to the barbershop as a child,” says Charlz Henry, a hair stylist at the Hot Seat Studio Salon in Greensboro. “In our community, that’s the meeting place. It’s a place that we go to let go. There are people who come to the barbershop, sit there all day long and never get a haircut.”

And so, these businesses became the key component to the initiative that the AHA and Blue Cross NC were developing for Charlotte, the Triad and the Triangle. In 2019, through a $750,000 investment by Blue Cross NC, the Hair, Heart & Health program officially launched – with hair stylists, nail technicians and barbers from 18 different businesses leading the way as AHA-trained ambassadors.

They outfitted their shops and salons with blood pressure monitors and educational materials, and arrived at work clad in T-shirts that read, “Ask Me About Heart Health.” News of the initiative began spreading, as it tends to do in salons and barbershops.

Henry, a community college cosmetology business professor of 29 years and a stylist for over four decades, has heard his fair share of chitchat among those who frequent salons. Born and raised in Greensboro, he manages Hot Seat Studio Salon, which his sister, Nicole Henry-Huff, opened in 2005. To him, salons and barbershops offer the ideal atmosphere to spread important messages. Customers, he says, discuss all kinds of things. “Especially their health. I hear some of the most amazing and sometimes frightening stories,” Henry says.

After learning about the Hair, Heart & Health program from a fellow barber, Henry was all in, becoming one of the program’s first ambassadors.