Hair Cuttery

Eight African-American women have filed a federal class action against Hair Cuttery's parent company, saying the salon chain discriminates against black customers. The move is the latest development in a lawsuit filed this year by Paulette Harris, an Anne Arundel County woman who said the salon tried to charge her more because she is black. In that suit, Harris said that she was told by a Hair Cuttery employee that she had to pay $8 extra for her shampoo because of her "ethnic" hair. Harris also said that she was asked to pay in advance because, she said the staff told her, "ethnic" people tend to leave without paying.

A shave and a haircut of yesteryear cost the proverbial two bits, 25 cents. A shave alone at The Old Bank Barbers, a soon-to-open barber shop on The Avenue in Hampden, will cost $25. It won't be any old shave, though. Owner Daniel Wells promises an old-fashioned, full-face, straight-edge shave, complete with hot lather, in a leather chair with a headrest that leans back. "It's an old-school barber shop with the tile floors," said Wells, who hopes to open this month at 1100 W. 36th St., the former site of Sixteen Tons, a men's clothing store.

'Share a Haircut' for needy kids offered at Hair Cuttery stores The Hair Cuttery has launched its annual "Share a Haircut Program" to provide back-to-school haircuts to needy children. Four Hair Cuttery salons are in Harford County: Aberdeen, 1020 Beards Hill Road; Abingdon, 3476 Emmorton Road; 678-H Baltimore Pike in Harford Mall; and Edgewood, 1401 Pulaski Highway in Woodbridge Shopping Center. For every child age 18 or younger who receives a haircut, the Hair Cuttery will give a free hair cut to a needy child in the community.

Alexander Ovechkin, one of the greatest hockey player in the game today, and certainly the best paid, decided to get spruced up the day he signed a 13-year, $124 million deal with the Washington Capitals. He swung by Hair Cuttery for a $14 cut. And so, an endorsement deal was born. The NHL superstar began shooting ads for the discount salon yesterday in Baltimore. The campaign - "What he is to hockey, we are to hair" and "Most Valuable Hair" will appear on Washington-area billboards and bus shelters - is the work of TBC, a Fells Point agency that represents Hair Cuttery.

For two years, Paulette Harris has had her hair shampooed and dried twice a month at a Hair Cuttery in Glen Burnie. Last month, when Harris, a black woman, went in for her shampoo, she said she was told the charge would be $8 more because she is "ethnic." "I said, `This is ridiculous, I've never been charged extra,'" said Harris, 25, who has straight shoulder-length hair. "`You're not going to charge me more because I'm not Caucasian.'" She filed a $600,000 lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday against Hair Cuttery, alleging negligent hiring and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Great Clips, the Minneapolis-based, low-cost, walk-in chain of hair salons, says it wants to expand its presence in the Baltimore market with 60 to 80 new stores in the next several years.Great Clips is working with Hicks & Rotner Retail Inc. to locate new stores in strip shopping centers anchored by grocery stores in the Baltimore area.About 13 stores are already here, and a new one is expected to open next week in Golden Ring Plaza.Great Clips, started in 1992, has more than 850 stores scattered across the nation, but has so far stayed away from areas north of Maryland, said Don Diddle, franchise development manager for Great Clips in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Howard County police arrested and charged a Baltimore man in connection with two burglaries of a hair salon in Ellicott City.About 3: 30 a.m. Friday, Sgt. John Mitchell noticed an Oldsmobile leaving the Hair Cuttery in the 9200 block of Baltimore National Pike, police said.A similar car was seen leaving the shop May 29 after a burglary, police said.Mitchell pulled the car over while another officer inspected the Hair Cuttery. The store's front door had been smashed and the office ransacked.

Cosmetic Center Inc. said yesterday that problems in distributing its merchandise during the United Parcel Service strike in August and the consolidation of its warehouse facilities to Columbia caused a loss of 13 cents a share in the third quarter.The Columbia-based company also said it had licensed its hair salon business to Creative Hairdressers Inc. of Falls Church, Va., which operates a chain of 600 Hair Cuttery stores. The Hair Cuttery will begin operating the salons in the next several months under their brand name and will eventually be located in every Cosmetic Center.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. may be feuding over who's the better man to run the city school system (and soon, perhaps, the state), but on the question of which politician has the better haircut, O'Malley wins, hands down. His honor the mayor rarely has a strand of hair out of place, yet he manages to look comfortably neat, instead of stuffy. His cut is short, but not severe. His style is conservative without that choirboy feel. At every public appearance, he looks freshly shorn.

Fantastic Sams, the nation's biggest chain of franchised hair salons, is expanding into Maryland with a goal of opening 100 salons in five to 10 years.The Anaheim, Calif.-based company has targeted the state as part of an aggressive push along the East Coast and in Northern California.It plans company-owned and franchisee-operated stores in fast-growing areas of Maryland, Glenn Lewis, president of Owings Mills-based Fantastic Sams of Maryland, said yesterday.Lewis, who bought rights in March to sub-franchise salons in Maryland and Delaware's Sussex County, is seeking sites for company-owned stores and gearing up to sell the first franchised locations.

'Share a Haircut' for needy kids offered at Hair Cuttery stores The Hair Cuttery has launched its annual "Share a Haircut Program" to provide back-to-school haircuts to needy children. Four Hair Cuttery salons are in Harford County: Aberdeen, 1020 Beards Hill Road; Abingdon, 3476 Emmorton Road; 678-H Baltimore Pike in Harford Mall; and Edgewood, 1401 Pulaski Highway in Woodbridge Shopping Center. For every child age 18 or younger who receives a haircut, the Hair Cuttery will give a free hair cut to a needy child in the community.

Eight African-American women have filed a federal class action against Hair Cuttery's parent company, saying the salon chain discriminates against black customers. The move is the latest development in a lawsuit filed this year by Paulette Harris, an Anne Arundel County woman who said the salon tried to charge her more because she is black. In that suit, Harris said that she was told by a Hair Cuttery employee that she had to pay $8 extra for her shampoo because of her "ethnic" hair. Harris also said that she was asked to pay in advance because, she said the staff told her, "ethnic" people tend to leave without paying.

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. may be feuding over who's the better man to run the city school system (and soon, perhaps, the state), but on the question of which politician has the better haircut, O'Malley wins, hands down. His honor the mayor rarely has a strand of hair out of place, yet he manages to look comfortably neat, instead of stuffy. His cut is short, but not severe. His style is conservative without that choirboy feel. At every public appearance, he looks freshly shorn.

For two years, Paulette Harris has had her hair shampooed and dried twice a month at a Hair Cuttery in Glen Burnie. Last month, when Harris, a black woman, went in for her shampoo, she said she was told the charge would be $8 more because she is "ethnic." "I said, `This is ridiculous, I've never been charged extra,'" said Harris, 25, who has straight shoulder-length hair. "`You're not going to charge me more because I'm not Caucasian.'" She filed a $600,000 lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court yesterday against Hair Cuttery, alleging negligent hiring and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

MARK KARAFIN is a young actor who appears on this Sunday's episode of "The Sopranos" and who would love to tell you all about the scene he's in, except he can't, because that would be ratting. Look, you know what they do to rats on that show. If you're lucky, a guy with a face like a bad eggplant pays you a visit and rearranges your dental work with a crowbar. If you're not so lucky, he stuffs you in a refrigerator and dumps you off a pier. Well, it turns out the actors aren't supposed to rat, either.

Fantastic Sams, the nation's biggest chain of franchised hair salons, is expanding into Maryland with a goal of opening 100 salons in five to 10 years.The Anaheim, Calif.-based company has targeted the state as part of an aggressive push along the East Coast and in Northern California.It plans company-owned and franchisee-operated stores in fast-growing areas of Maryland, Glenn Lewis, president of Owings Mills-based Fantastic Sams of Maryland, said yesterday.Lewis, who bought rights in March to sub-franchise salons in Maryland and Delaware's Sussex County, is seeking sites for company-owned stores and gearing up to sell the first franchised locations.

Alexander Ovechkin, one of the greatest hockey player in the game today, and certainly the best paid, decided to get spruced up the day he signed a 13-year, $124 million deal with the Washington Capitals. He swung by Hair Cuttery for a $14 cut. And so, an endorsement deal was born. The NHL superstar began shooting ads for the discount salon yesterday in Baltimore. The campaign - "What he is to hockey, we are to hair" and "Most Valuable Hair" will appear on Washington-area billboards and bus shelters - is the work of TBC, a Fells Point agency that represents Hair Cuttery.

MARK KARAFIN is a young actor who appears on this Sunday's episode of "The Sopranos" and who would love to tell you all about the scene he's in, except he can't, because that would be ratting. Look, you know what they do to rats on that show. If you're lucky, a guy with a face like a bad eggplant pays you a visit and rearranges your dental work with a crowbar. If you're not so lucky, he stuffs you in a refrigerator and dumps you off a pier. Well, it turns out the actors aren't supposed to rat, either.

Howard County police arrested and charged a Baltimore man in connection with two burglaries of a hair salon in Ellicott City.About 3: 30 a.m. Friday, Sgt. John Mitchell noticed an Oldsmobile leaving the Hair Cuttery in the 9200 block of Baltimore National Pike, police said.A similar car was seen leaving the shop May 29 after a burglary, police said.Mitchell pulled the car over while another officer inspected the Hair Cuttery. The store's front door had been smashed and the office ransacked.

Cosmetic Center Inc. said yesterday that problems in distributing its merchandise during the United Parcel Service strike in August and the consolidation of its warehouse facilities to Columbia caused a loss of 13 cents a share in the third quarter.The Columbia-based company also said it had licensed its hair salon business to Creative Hairdressers Inc. of Falls Church, Va., which operates a chain of 600 Hair Cuttery stores. The Hair Cuttery will begin operating the salons in the next several months under their brand name and will eventually be located in every Cosmetic Center.