Cut It Out concept reaches new states

Learn what Georgia readers heard recently about the program that was began with The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham.

Reprinted from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 1, 2004

Hairdressers enlisted in fight against abuse; Program trains stylists to offer sources of help

By LYN RIDDLE
For the Journal-Constitution
Columbia --- Vilma Cobb has been doing hair for 34 years. She believes during that time about a hundred of her clients were abused by their husbands, boyfriends or others.

There was the woman who was abused as a child and later by two boyfriends; the grandmother punched by her drunken daughter; the girl who couldn't lean back onto the shampoo bowl because of bruises on her neck.

"Sometimes, we are the only person in their life who knows what's really going on," Cobb said.

Domestic violence remains one of the thorniest problems for prosecutors and counselors nationally, but it is especially troublesome in South Carolina. The state has led the nation in the number of women murdered by men for two of the past three years. In 2000, South Carolina ranked third in deaths.

Even the special attention of governors and attorneys general --- putting free lawyers in magistrate courts to help victims press charges and an edict against dropping felony domestic violence cases because the victim refused to testify --- has not helped.

Now South Carolina has endorsed a program called Cut It Out, in which hairdressers are trained to spot abuse and to discreetly advise customers how to get help. The program, which was developed in 2000 by the Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham and operates in Georgia's Cobb County, reflects a growing understanding that government alone cannot solve the problem of domestic violence. Currently, cosmetologists in 11 states participate in the program.

Esta Soler, president of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, based in San Francisco, said 25 years of government attention has led to better prosecution and more awareness of the problem, but not a large decrease in the number of women hurt each year. One in three American women reports abuse in her lifetime.

Soler said more community-based programs are needed. Plastic surgeons and dentists have offered free care. Bartenders have done much the same as hairdressers. Employers have created highly effective training sessions.

And most importantly, Soler said, community leaders are realizing the importance of counseling for the youngest victims of domestic violence, the boys and girls who see it in their homes.

"Often, government programs are not nearly as effective as businesses can be," said Jennifer Jaquess, communications manager of Southern Living At Home, a sponsor of the Cut It Out program along with Clairol Professional and the National Association of Cosmetologists.

The Women's Fund received $540,000 from Alabama's share of a class-action suit settlement alleging vertical price fixing by Nine West Shoe Co. The group's mandate was to do something about domestic violence, and the idea just "popped up," said Virginia Sweet, the executive director of the Women's Fund.

"Hairdressers form a bond, you talk," Sweet said. The organization paid to train hairdressers to spot signs of domestic violence and bought materials to hand out. Posters are put on bathroom walls in the salon. The national abuse hotline telephone number is printed on nail files and inside lipstick cases.

The organization did not do a formal evaluation, but anecdotal evidence shows women were helped, Sweet said.

Southern Living At Home officials believed the program was so good, it should go national, Jaquess said. The other corporate sponsors agreed and training began last fall under the auspices of the Salons Against Domestic Abuse Fund.

Hairdressers are taught to recognize signs of abuse such as pulled-out hair, bumps or bruises on the scalp, men coming into the salon to tell the hairdresser how to cut the woman's hair or calling frequently while the woman is there, and women who pay for part of their treatment in cash and part by check.

"The program helps educate these friends," Jaquess said. "We're teaching them that they're not mandatory reporting stations. They're not counselors."

Hairdressers are told they should not seek to fix the problem, Jaquess said, but to be supportive of people they see regularly, often for many years. For a woman isolated from family and friends by a controlling partner, sometimes the salon is the only place she's allowed to go.

Copyright 2004 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution