No label London: how transgender fitness classes and beauty services are opening up in the capital

London's liberalism has lead to a host of new trans classes and services opening up to eager city-dwellers. Phoebe Luckhurst investigates...
Nailing it: Charlie Craggs of Nails Transphobia
Joanna Kiely for The Time is Now zine (ttin.uk)

London is an evolving playground, accepting the marginalised before the mainstream does. As London’s liberalism persists: queer culture and trans issues have been the talking points this year, and the capital is refusing normative labels accordingly.

Here are three envelope-pushing services that every Londoner should try.

Get a groom

Open Barbers bills itself as a “hairdressing service for all lengths, genders and sexualities”.

Founders Greygory and Felix cut hair, but the salon, a registered social enterprise, is also intended as somewhere to hang out and meet others: if you’re skipping a shearing, there’s tea, biscuits and fanzines to entertain you.

Stylist and artist Richard Hougez is also currently working at the salon two days a week. The salon currently runs as a pop-up in a bookshop called Finishing Touch.

Things to do in London this weekend (Nov 13 - 15)

1/10

“Open Barbers is a salon for people of all genders and sexualities,” says Felix, pointing out that Open Barbers is not just an LGBT space but an inclusive space for all people. “We set up in 2011 and there has been huge demand for haircuts that are not gendered in the binary way of traditional hairdressing, to the extent that we are launching a crowdfund in November to build a new, much bigger space.”

On its website, Open Barbers states that it “seeks to promote the diversity of identities in society and celebrate people’s appearance in the way they wish to be seen.” Pricing operates on a sliding scale: for appointments lasting between an hour and 90 minutes, customers pay what they can between £10 and £40. There are five appointments a week priced at between £2 and £10 (47 Kennington Lane, SE11, openbarbers.co.uk).

Charlie Craggs (Image: Joanna Kiely for The Time is Now zine ttin.uk)
Joanna Kiely for The Time is Now zine (ttin.uk)

Grooming is a theme: trans activist Charlie Craggs runs Nails Transphobia, a pop-up “fighting transphobia, fabulously”. Craggs, a trans woman, talks trans issues with customers while doing their nails for free. Craggs hopes to provide an opportunity in which to meet a member of the trans community, possibly for the first time, in order to minimise the importance of any perceived “differences”.

It’s humanising, brave and a brilliant idea. Or as Craggs puts it, “I’m trying to change hearts and minds a nail at a time.” (nailtransphobia.com).

Lead a dance

Irreverent Dance in Kentish Town is a studio that handles the undeniable truth that “not everyone who wants to learn is young, skinny, graceful, cis-female and gives a toss. In fact, most of us aren’t…” Classes are pitched at adults, focused on having a laugh rather getting en pointe, and many of the members continue onto a local café afterwards to shoot the breeze (45 Holmes Road, NW5, irreverentdance.co.uk).

Irreverant Dance class

Sweat it

“Body image is paramount within the fitness industry, often with the emphasis on vanity over health, breeding a culture selling ‘six-pack short cuts’ or ‘bikini bodies’ over the less immediate gratification of lifelong health and fitness,” says personal trainer Becca Knapp. “This body fascism, combined with the heightened gender divide within gyms, can lead to queer/trans identified people feeling excluded or uncomfortable in these spaces.”

Knapp, who specialises in strength and conditioning, addresses this by training cis and trans women, or those who identify as gender non-conforming, using free weights: an area that she says is “typically dominated by cis men”.

“In my experience, London is a mixed bag when it comes to ‘accepting’,” she says. “Living in Hackney I am in a fantastic queer bubble, however gender policing and prejudice does show its ugly head from time to time. The most rewarding aspect of my job is seeing my clients not only increase their fitness, but also their confidence to train in the weights area. After all, it’s a public gym. This is your space.”

Queer activists point out that while London is undeniably liberal, organisations must learn from the inclusivity of these spaces, whether this means advertising, security policies or application forms. Individual Londoners must be careful of pronouns but, more importantly, unafraid to ask questions and learn.

However, the enlightened future certainly beckons: even the fusty old House of Commons is reportedly bringing in transgender loos, updating the antiquated building for the new gender-neutral considerations of the 21st century.

Hopefully London will include everyone in its brave new world.

Follow Phoebe on Twitter: @phoebeluckhurst

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in