"Alisko Hair Cut" by Brian Chankin
"Alisko Hair Cut" by Brian Chankin Credit: Courtesy the artist

I don’t think anyone could successfully argue that hairstyling isn’t an art, especially after seeing “Sportin’ Waves,” an exhibit of Ghanaian barbershop signs that Strange Beauty Show hosted earlier this year. Besides being artfully done in their sort of folksy, outsider-art way, the works featured amazing late-80s/ early-90s haircuts, like sweet fades with lines shaved in them and braids doing things that don’t look possible. The stylists at Strange Beauty Show can be similarly adventurous, especially with color. They can tone it down, too—I totally ripped off a classic angled bob my friend got at the salon last year (alas, it looked way better on her). “Sportin’ Waves” ended in April, but there’s always something on the walls to look at while you’re waiting for your bleach to process or whatever. Last time I stopped in, the salon had an exhibit of really neat paper sculptures of the stretch of Ashland Avenue it sits on (Strange Beauty’s good at finding self-reflexive art).