Black women are three times more likely to spend money on hair products than white women.
But the UK hairdressing industry remains overwhelmingly white. Of the 45,000 salons in the county, only 314 are registered to cater for afro hair.
Even in London, where Black residents make up 29 percent of the population, only 2.5 percent of the hairdressers specialise in type four hair - curls and afros.
Why are there so few Black hairdressers and what can be done about it?
Sophia Hilton, 34, runs Not another salon - one of the few that cater for afro hair - and says change is happening but it's a slow process.
"The change is going to be slow. We need to appreciate that first the college educators need to learn to be able to pass it on. That takes not only funding but also effort," she said.
"People really do want to end segregation. Once people turned down Black people because of lack of education and they thought nothing of it. However, I can tell you first-hand that hairdressers are embarrassed, and so we should be.
"We have been systemically blind for so long. Now that our eyes are open, there is no excuse. We will change it," she added.
Hair is separated into four categories based on their texture, 1a-c refers to straight hair texture, 2a-c includes wavy hair textures, type 3a-c refers to curly hair and afro hair is type 4. It is this type of hair that has been left out of the mainstream industry for decades.
Black people have had to rely on their own techniques, products and community to look after their hair.
The (NOS) found that many hairdressing qualifications did not require students to learn how to style and cut afro hair.
Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the pivotal BLM movement, the National Occupational Standard said that afro and textured hair must be included in the cutting and styling practice when studying for a hair qualification.
This means that all new hairdressing students will have to work with Black hair to become a qualified hairdresser.
For a qualified hairdresser you can have a level two (basic understanding of hairdressing) or level three (focuses on the technical skills and advanced knowledge required for more senior hairdressing roles.)
At the Evolve Academy in Manchester the next generation of hairdressing students are keen to embrace the skills needed to care for Black hair.
"We have to work with all different hair types as part of our NVQ level three, so you don't just do one thing in particular. You have to make sure you can do the whole thing as a whole.
"Regarding the NOS, it has made a small difference. Before, type four hair wasn't something that we got briefed on. But now you have to do it and it’s part of your course and you have to make sure you have a model with type four hair to pass the course," said Tasnim Naeli, 23, one of the students on the course.
The students say it can be hard for students to find models to practise on.
Hollie Harrison, 22, another student on the course, said: "We advertise for models on Instagram but I think some people tend to have more specialised salons that they go to rather than trusting a student to work with their hair. It is harder finding models that have type four hair than it is one to three.
"We have mannequins and that does help but it's never the same as real hair. It's more so down to the models, if you don't have more models then it's hard to increase your knowledge on it.
Fellow student Olivia Watson, added: "Everyday we're always doing the same hair types which are type one and two, sometimes three, never the type four Black hair. We do know about it but we don't go in depth about it because we don't do it all the time.
"Not a lot of colleges take the time to learn about Black hair as they should do. Not a lot of people have experience in working with those hair textures which is why they sometimes can't do their hair."
Hair trainer of Evolve Academy , Leigh Cutter, 40, has been in the hair industry for more than 20 years, and has witnessed the slow change in the hair and beauty industry.
"When I was training and I went to do my level three hair, you had to pick an optional unit. It would be wedding/bridal hair, type four hair and barbering.
"I'm originally from the North East and this was back from 2002 where I wanted to do type four hair because there wasn't a lot of specialism within the area. I got told 'no' and I was forced to do bridal hair.
"It was meant to be an optional unit but you had to do bridal hair because it was popular. Now, it's changed a lot since then and we make sure we go across all four hair types so we can be as inclusive as possible," she said.
Catering to Black hair also means being aware that not every hair product used on type one to three hair will work on type four hair.
Many of the hair adverts on TV do not cater to type four hair, and instead cater to those with a straight texture. Finding the right hair products is just as important as having a hairdresser know how to style your hair.
Only a few hair shops sell a range of hair products that cater to Black hair, but recently more mainstream stores such as Superdrug and Boots have included it in their sales.
Cantu is one of the top hair brands to work for natural Black hair, which Evolve Academy makes sure they keep stocked up on and know how to use.
Hollie said: "People are more open to learning about different hair now, especially over the last couple of years. I've seen a difference with a lot of people going on different courses to learn about it and be more open to working with type four hair."
"The hair industry is improving but there is still a long way that needs to be done," Leigh concludes.
