The Salon

Back with a full summary at the top of the hour.

It is not just a haircut, behind every haircut there is a story.

In salons around the world, every haircut tells a story.

I do want people to know I'm African by just looking at me.

I know it sounds really silly, but one of the first

things I thought, oh, my God, I'm going to lose my hair.

The thing about this haircut, it is about a moment of my life.

Let's start in Tokyo, where this client and

their hairdresser want a hairstyle that is cute.

They think they're colourful hairstyle is the answer.

The colours in Tokyo may seem unnaturally bright,

but what is natural when it comes to hair is often up to debate.

In London, CC is from Cameroon, she is visiting

her hairdresser, Pearl, to discuss exactly what that means.

I do want people to think I'm African just by looking at me.

I want the daycare, natural African hair,

A lot of young girls have been going natural,

not relaxing anymore, leaving the hair

To black women in the hair is very important.

Unfortunately my natural hair is not as big as I wish it was.

That is why I had extensions to achieve that.

I felt, growing up, it was cool, prettier when you hair was straight.

It was very much the influence of the media, making you think

looking like celebrities, like Europeans, American

people, it is better than looking totally African.

Right, you like natural hair so much, how about this?

People judge you, on what you look like.

I don't know whether it is visible, but I put the highlights,

for a bit of shimmer, apparently it makes your nose

You said your image is very African, very black.

Black people have broad noses naturally.

Why are you contouring to make yours look slimmer?

That goes against everything he said your natural hair.

The way a woman wears her hair says something about her changing

In another part of London Lucia is introducing her hair to the wider

The thing about this haircut, it is an important moment

I have been wearing a skirt for the last three days,

it has been a bit of a journey, but I am out and proud.

I want to meet this new person that I have been pushing down for ages.

My initial thought was, I wanted to get a new haircut.

I set up a gender neutral barbershop, everybody welcome,

and it is a safe place where anyone can get a haircut they want.

I came out at work, this is me, whatever I look like.

I will come out, whatever happens, happens.

Over the span of 12 years or so, I haven't really looked

I had shrunk away, losing my life almost.

It was a difficult time, I did not know who, ultimately, I was.

Basically the NHS' waiting list is a year and a half.

I realised that if I do not transition, basically

There is a high suicide rate in the trans-community,

I knew that although that was dangerous,

injecting myself for names, I knew it was more dangerous

At work, I started to wear make up slowly.

People called me my old name, and I said, have you

They changed my name on the thing, that was it.

This was the best thing, when you are strong,

people will respect and stop for me, London is a really cool place.

For me, London is a really cool place.

Strong energy of transformation, lots of things happening,

things changing, and melting pot of all the things happening.

If you want to transition can come to London, it is superb.

I would give it a nine out of ten for transitioning.

Many women view motherhood as a defining aspect

Is there a particular idea of beauty that a mother should

In Johannesburg, Tracy and her mother, Hope,

head to a salon for an expensive hairstyle known here

Brazilian is the in thing these days.

The most expensive I have heard of is about $500.

The cost of Brazilian is about the same as some people

Here is my daughter carrying that same instalment on her head just

My mum is the one making me look as beautiful as I do every day.

I negotiate for the payment of the hair with the hairdresser.

As a single mother, I need to consider Tracy's

I have been paying their hairdresser in instalments for the last two

months, the last one is today, hence the hair is going on to the head.

Without completion of the payment, no Brazilian.

If I want, I want, if I need, I need it.

As a parent, if you cannot afford to give your child what they want,

they will look for men that have the money to support them,

The South Africa I grew up in is slightly different from the South

Africa she grew up in. At times it is very liberal, in my time, white

society determined what we do. In their time, it is what they want,

what they do. They have so-called rights. It may have been brutal, but

it was disciplined. These ones, no discipline. Freedom is what they

call discipline. Freedom. Amazing. Beyonce has nothing on me.

It looks expensive, for the duration that she has the hair on, she will

be reminding me of the budget. In Beirut, we are about to meet one

woman whose hairstyle goes against her country's notion of beauty.

We have met women around the world making choices reflecting their

changing identities. In Manchester Danielle and her hairdresser

husband, Graham, coming to terms with having their choice taken away

entirely. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in July, 2014. I know

it sounds really silly, but one of the first things I thought about

them, though, my God, I'm going to lose my hair. This is the first time

I had been in the hair salon to have my hair cut since the week before I

started chemotherapy in 2014. My husband is a hairdresser, whenever

we saw anybody, people would make a comment on my hair, it became a

massive part of my identity. We met through a colleague of mine. I have

always had a thing about redheaded girls, makes me sound shallow. I

really want to go to this club in town, he said, will you come with

me. We met that night. Just going on 19 years. 1997. I really miss this

bit, I like it when you watch Mayor. When she was first diagnosed, I

disappeared from work straightaway. I could not imagine myself in the

salon, the conversations I would have, the trivia. Someone

complaining I may have left their fringe a bit longer last time, it

felt like nonsense. You wanted to say to that person, my wife is sat

at home with no hair at all, you need to get perspective. It happened

so gradually. Even though I was hoovering up small amounts of hair,

picking up clumps in the shower, I tried to keep it secret from her. It

made me feel less feminine. Without any make-up on, I looked like with,

bald, uncle Fester. No features. Your face is not changed. It is a

really sad thing. First and foremost, I thought she was going to

die. To see her so sad, not herself, it was horrible. My last

radiotherapy was nine months ago. My last chemotherapy was eight and a

half months ago. It has made me a lot more laid back. It has changed

my views on quite a lot of things. I am less judgmental. I can enjoy

things I did not notice before. I love being outside, in nature, even

in bad weather, I like looking at trees, feeling the grass under my

feet. You don't appreciate what you have

got, until you essentially lose it, and you realise how important it was

at the time. You cannot give someone that knowledge and experience.