You can see both sides of the story in the case of the Muslim woman awarded £4,000 for “injury to feelings” after a hair-salon owner refused to employ her because she wears a headscarf. Blatant discrimination, some might say.

In its decision the employment tribunal accepted that Bushra Noah (above) had not been treated differently because of her headscarf. Looking at wedgehair.co.uk — the website for Wedge, the punkish salon in King’s Cross, Central London, where Noah applied for a job — you can kind of see where the owner is coming from — although that clearly did not satisfy the tribunal. Click on the gallery and you’ll realise that this case could just have easily have been headlined “Owner of trendy salon discriminates against job applicant who hasn’t got pink hair”.

In hairdressing, image is obviously important. The glaring irony in this story is that most of us nonhairdressers probably think that the odd headscarf or two wouldn’t go amiss in our local salon — it’s as though stylists feel a need to prove their extensive spectrum of hairdressing skills on their own heads. At the same time. Mine, for one, boasts several different colours, as well as what I call the Skunk: a choppy cut that looks like the result of an argument with a lawnmower, with the kind of shine seen on the forecourt at Ferrari. The headscarf might have been a welcome relief.

But maybe we quite like the crazy hair expression. On one level it’s reassuring; you wouldn’t get your teeth whitened by a dentist wearing a mouthguard. That said, one school of thought advocates going to hairdressers with the worst cuts in the salon. Why? Because they’re so busy using their skills on everyone else that they haven’t got time for a personal short back and sides.

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