Have you ever been to a barbershop or salon and felt like you weren't comfortable telling the person cutting your hair exactly what you wanted to be done? Then later on you not only regret even going to said place to get your hair cut in the first place (after all, your hair doesn't look even remotely close to what you wanted it to) but you know that now you're going to have to live in this uncomfortable in between place? Because you know that every time someone looks at you, they're determining everything they really think about you, based on the perception your hair gives them. OK, maybe you don't go through exactly that, especially if you've been lucky enough to find a place that cuts hair and a stylist who understands your hair from your roots to your tips.

Unfortunately though, for many within the LGBT and specifically transgender community, going to get a haircut is a trip that many will go to any lengths to avoid; whether it's having a friend of a friend style your hair in a shady dorm bathroom or learning how to cut your hair yourself, which by its own nature is a very risky business.

Fortunately for those in Vancouver, there's a barbershop opening up to form a solution to all of these problems! While Vancouver has been considered an LGBT-friendly area for many, like everywhere else in the world that is considered overtly friendly to the LGB, the T is not always necessarily included in this. Oftentimes struggling to gain recognition, respect, and to be considered not simply just a cisgender (a term used to describe non-transgender people) or a person in drag (the act of dressing in clothes opposite your gender purely for entertainment), being an openly transgender person anywhere is not simply the case of just "coming out."

Owned and operated by Jessie Anderson, Big Bro's Barbershop is a safe place for people of any gender expression and orientation to come get exactly the style they desire. “People are constantly assessing you and forming their own opinion of your gender as a visibly trans person,” he explains in an interview with VancityBuzz. “Offering an inclusive idea of what masculinity can look like means no client’s requested services will ever be denied or modified based on how I, or any other service provider, has chosen to interpret the client’s gender.”

After being turned down for loans because the shop was seen as “too sexually explicit” for also offering services other than a simple haircut, such as gender affirming products including packers, gaff underwear, bra extenders, binders and other items related to transition, Anderson turned to the public and created a GoFundMe fundraiser. Currently at around $10,000, Big Bro's still has a while to go. Even still, Jessie Anderson's dreams for Big Bro's Barbershop don't stop there.

Another problem with the accessibility of transgender resources is they're associated with being too sexual. Those seeking these resources have to head either online, where it's a long drawn out process of finding products that fit the recipient (and possibly even dangerous to receive for those who are still in the closet), or head to adult-only sex shops, which for youth and parents who are going through the process of figuring everything out is difficult. Resources for transgender people who are in a good place money wise are rare and hard to find, and for those that are unemployed or homeless, this makes finding resources next to impossible. According to the HRC, "while 73% of voters support protecting transgender people from discrimination in employment. Despite this strong public support, no federal law provides explicit legal protections for transgender workers based on gender identity/expression—and only 17 states and the District of Columbia offer these protections. As a result, transgender workers face higher rates of unemployment and are at greater risk of poverty." That being said,

• Transgender workers report unemployment at twice the rate of the population as a whole (14% vs. 7% at the time the workers were surveyed).
• More than four in 10 transgender people (44%) who are currently working are underemployed.
• Transgender workers are nearly four times more likely than the population as a whole to have a household income of under $10,000 (15% vs. 4% at the time the workers were surveyed, according to the HRC)

However, even Big Bro's Barbershop takes this into account, and also offers a Community Credit Fund. The Community Credit Fund, which takes donations from their GoFundMe, given that there is money, allows for those without the funds to have their services paid for by someone else. In a community that's constantly bought out, the struggle to create a space specifically for transgender, intersex, two-spirit, and others anywhere on the gender spectrum of any age is not just wanted, it's critically needed.

Like what you're seeing? Big Bro's Barbershop is still taking donations at their GoFundMe!