Together with the Wella Company we do the hair salonsAutism Friendly!!

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The Wella Company and the Child and Adolescent Center join forces and contribute to the accessibility of autistic people to hairdressing services in Greece.

Project Description

Finally, it's happening! Now, every child with autism and their family can experience a visit to the hairdresser with joy and not fear and resentment. For the general population, it is common to associate a visit to the hairdresser with a pleasant experience that raises the mood and self-confidence. However, there are people, especially children, for whom cutting hair, bathing and generally interacting in a salon may not be a pleasant experience. Especially for an autistic child, the visit often develops into a particularly painful condition with a significant impact on his adult life as well.

Autistic individuals often take in environmental stimuli in a different way and show particularities in sensory processing and reaction to various stimuli. A visit with special environmental conditions and factors that can trigger in a person with autism extreme unwanted behaviors and feelings of anxiety and/or pain. Special factors such as an unfamiliar space, many unfamiliar people, sounds, smells and colors, the sight of tools and machines such as clippers or scissors and especially contact with them and the temperature of the water (cold/hot).

For a society with autism friendly hair salons

The aim of the cooperation with the Wella Company is to support the use of hairdressing services by people with autism, so as to improve the quality of life of themselves and their families, in everyday life.

With this program, a scientifically based record of the current situation is implemented for the accessibility of people with autism in the provision of beauty services in the hair salon.

The impact of the project consists of:

  1. highlighting the difficulties and needs of people with autism,
  2. in the documented support of the use of hairdressing services in autism friendly hairdressing salons,
  3. informing, raising awareness and training hairdressers for the special needs of autistic people and enriching their professional activity with a focus on neurodiversity and
  4. in the awareness of the general public.

This is an innovative program for people with autism, as the international literature is very poor on the subject. With the completion of the program, a new tool is added to the field of caring for people with autism, which can be a model and subject of study within and outside the country's borders.

Project duration: 12 months until February 2025

Expected results:

  1. Assessing the needs of people with autism in terms of the difficulties they have with regard to the use of hairdressing services, through a quantitative survey of parents - caregivers with the administration of a questionnaire in electronic form nationwide.
  2. Assessing the needs of people with autism regarding the difficulties they have with regard to the use of hairdressing services, through qualitative research on therapists with the organization of a focus group (focus group) online, with the participation of professionals / therapists who work with autistic people, throughout the Greece.
  3. Organization of an educational seminar with the participation of 50 hairdressers from all over Greece, live and/or online.
  4. Publication of autism friendly hair salons on the guide website for autism in Greece, autismap.gr.
  5. Creation and publication of a freely accessible manual / guide for the provision of grooming services by hairdressers to people with autism.

Presentation of the project and its results to people with autism, their families and carers as well as autism professionals

Information about the project: Christos Sifneos, Project Manager, tel. 2105731581, sifneos@kpechios.org

Information for journalists: Natasa Spantidaki, Communications Officer, tel. 2105771502, 6942423140, nspantidaki@kpechios.org

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