MEADOW Springs resident Simon Gabb believes he was refused a haircut at Rockingham’s Salon Express because he is a man.
Mr Gabb said about six hairdressers were without clients on a Thursday last month when he entered the store.
Although the Salon Express staff did not seem busy at the time, Mr Gabb said they refused to cut his hair.
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READ NOW“I asked them ‘can’t boys go in here?’ and they told me to take a number and to wait about 15 minutes in the Barber Express section,” he said.
“They had six people who probably could’ve cut my hair and would’ve done the same job.
“It annoyed me; I just came in to get a haircut.”
Mandurah resident Chloe Ralph told the Mandurah Coastal Times in May she was also denied a haircut from the franchise.
The 23-year-old claims she was refused a haircut at Mandurah Forum’s Barbershop Express because she was a woman.
The hospitality manager visited the barber shop in April and asked one of the female staff members for a male-style haircut.
“She told me straight out ‘sorry, we don’t do females’,” Ms Ralph said.
She said the incident made her feel “second class”.
Express Retail Group spokesman David Boyd said they were investigating the matter surrounding Mr Gabb’s claims.
“It has come to light that an incident was reported at the Rockingham premises involving Mr Gabb,” he said. “This incident was escalated to shopping centre security and we will continue to investigate the specifics.
“Express Retail Group reiterates its commitment to having the right policies, procedures and training in place to ensure our staff do not discriminate against any potential client.
“We continue to strengthen our commitment to ongoing training of our teams to ensure a positive experience for all of our clients”.
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