Barbershop in Bouctouche, N.B. offering free gender-affirming haircuts

Izzy Gallant fondly remembers his first trip to a barbershop before he officially came out as a trans man a little over three years ago.

He asked the barber to cut his then long hair into a ‘high and tight’ and was pleased with the results.

“When I got this haircut it felt phenomenal. I looked in the mirror and it was me!” he said.

Gallant had a positive experience and still sees the same barber to this day.

“I got really lucky, I want to say,” he said.

“I’ve heard sadly many bad stories,” he said, adding many trans and gender non-conforming friends have had negative experiences when they’ve asked barbers or hairdressers for a big change.

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That’s why he applauds the initiative of a Bouctouche barbershop offering free first-time haircuts for people looking to align their appearance with their chosen gender.

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Barber Jesse Mathieu, who owns Le cutting club de Bouctouche barbershop, felt compelled to offer the service because of their own experiences getting their hair cut as a non-binary person.

Mathieu said many hairdressers refused to cut their long hair into what is typically considered as a masculine hair cut before finding one who accepted to do it when they were living in Montreal in 2015.

“They were like ‘let’s go, let’s do it”, nothing about ‘are you sure?’ it was just ‘you’re ready? Let’s go!”

Mathieu said they felt like themselves when they saw their reflection in the mirror.

They have already provided that experience for other people, like their client turned partner Sara Idris.

In 2022, Idris had been reflecting on her hair and how she wanted it to look, when it grew back after a temporary episode of alopecia.

“Hair is such a close part of your personal identity. People show who they are through their hair and their hair styles,” she said.

Like Mathieu, she’s had hairstylists try to talk her out of the haircut she wanted.

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“I’ve gone to a barbershop and asked for a haircut and I’ve come out with a feminine bob, which is really not a great feeling. Especially when you ask for something and they decide for you,” she said.

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She went to see Jesse to fix that haircut, and said she felt amazing seeing herself the way she pictured.

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“It is more reflective of who I am and not people’s perceptions of me. To be able to choose for myself how I want to represent myself in the world and what I look like,” she said.

Mathieu said people come as far as Moncton, a roughly 40 minute drive, to get their hair cut in their queer-inclusive space.

“I’ve had some customers come and say ‘I really want a transformation!’,” they said. “It was a pretty nice experience, to see them afterwards, just smiling and saying ‘That’s me!”, they said with a smile. It feels really good because I know what that feeling is and I know what it feels like to walk out as yourself.”

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