A HAIR salon has joined a national move to boycott "awful" gossip magazines by not allowing their customers to read them.
The Hair and Beauty Room located in Rectory Row, Bracknell is amongst many salons which have decided to take a stand against magazines which publish stories to "ruin people's lives".
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The move comes after former ITV Love Island presenter Caroline Flack's tragic death, where people have been raising issues about the media's responsibility in publishing stories about mental health and privacy.
Lorraine Polkinghorne, who owns the Hair and Beauty Room in Bracknell, said: "We, like a lot of people, were all shocked and devastated by the sad news of Caroline Flack and we decided as a salon after her tragic death that it is time to make a stand and join in with other salons to remove the gossip magazines for good.
"These stories are fake news and to exploit people this way is totally wrong. We are all guilty of flicking through and reading them but why! It’s absolute rubbish and things need to change. If we don’t buy them maybe they will stop printing them."
The salon decided to ban gossip magazines on Friday, February 21, and explained to their clients on their Facebook profile page.
Clients who come to the salon will now read "quality" magazines which highlights more positive content.
She added: "We have replaced them with quality fashion, interior design, food and other magazines and so far clients have all agreed this is a great decision and don’t actually want to read the fake gossip magazines.
"I really hope it helps stop these magazines from printing these awful stories and ruining people’s lives." The move has been strongly backed by the salons customers, with some saying that the time has come for change.
Victoria Plato supports the idea and said: "I haven’t bought any gossip magazines in years.
"I think this is a really positive step towards making a stand against this trashy type of journalism. We (the human race) seem to have a very unhealthy interest in what celebrities are/aren’t doing and judging them based on what’s being reported in magazines and papers when we should all really be paying more attention to what’s happening in our own lives. I love that you’ve taken this action
Ms Polkinghorne added: "All clients have been totally supportive of this and agreed this needs to change. They also much prefer a good quality home interior, women’s health or gardening magazine too."
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