Woman refused haircut by barber

Anna Kaminski had been getting her hair cut at barbershops for years. Photo / Facebook, Anna Kaminski

A British woman was left mortified after being refused a hair cut at a barber's shop.

Despite having had her hair cut for years by barbers, Anna Kaminski was appalled when she walked into a barber's shop in Cambridge, England recently only to be directed straight out again.

Speaking to stylist.co.uk, British travel writer Kaminski explained that when she asked for a trim, a man in the shop pointed to the door and told her: "I just do girls when we're not busy."

Kaminski said had she asked for something the barber didn't provide, she would have understood. But this wasn't the case.

"Had I walked into this barbershop and asked them for services they didn't provide, a perm or something, then of course he would have been within his rights to tell me that they don't provide that service but I was asking for exactly the same services as his other clients," the 34-year-old told stylist.co.uk.

Turned away rudely on account being female in spite of wanting male haircut. #discrimination #EqualityAct #illegal pic.twitter.com/MB1GRu0DrD

— A. C. Kaminski 🍽👹😷 (@ACKaminski) May 4, 2016

The shop's owner, Lino Pizza, claimed the incident was a misunderstanding.

He told news outlet SWNS that he only cut women's hair when he wasn't busy because he didn't want to "mess it up".

According to Sam Smethers, CEO of women's equality and rights group The Fawcett Society, the shop's actions were "almost certainly" illegal.