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Whilst growing up in Exeter, England, I was seeing homelessness on a regular basis. I witnessed a lot of people fall through the cracks in society. Some were seated in front of train stations and others at my doorstep, so I was always curious about what I could do to really help people who are homeless. Usually, my interactions with these people were pretty limited, but I was curious as to why someone would have ended up in such a situation because everyone's story is so different and unique.
Before becoming a hairdresser in 2011, I was playing music for a long time and worked different jobs to support that passion. But my music career came to an end when I was 24. I remember then walking into a salon and asking for a chance to be a hairdresser. I was a shampoo boy for the first year, sweeping up and washing hair, and then began cutting people's hair. I loved interacting with the people there.
In the winter of 2015, a few years after I had moved to London, I was walking through the streets with my scissors and my backpack. I was on my way to give a client a haircut at their house and I ended up speaking to a guy on the street. I noticed that his beard had grown out and he hadn't had a haircut in a while. At that moment, I offered to cut his hair. I didn't realize that this would change the trajectory of my life.
This person was very charismatic. After I had cut his hair, cleaned him up, and showed him the mirror, he was extremely happy. He began showing his haircut to the people passing by. It was nice to see that the haircut itself meant something to someone. That was something that I had overlooked for a long time. Prior to that, I had cut hair for money and had often seen it as a transaction.
Naturally, a haircut grows out. It may not necessarily change someone's life. But I noticed that the time I spent with this particular homeless person was important to both me and him. Simply spending an hour or two speaking with this person and hearing their story was what drove me to cut homeless people's hair regularly.
It really dawned on me that I could take this out into the world and truly help people. I began traveling to different countries in Europe and meeting people on the street, to see what homelessness was like in these different countries.
I began taking trains to different places in Europe and staying on friends' sofas. I remember in 2016, I had booked a trip to Paris. I took my hair-cutting equipment with me because I was curious about who I'd meet there. In Paris, I met a photographer who helped me translate from English to French, and I began cutting homeless people's hair on the street.
Following that, I created a social media handle on Instagram to share different stories from homeless people, stories whilst showing before and after pictures of their haircuts, with their consent. This began to gain a lot of attention, and I was featured in different articles, which really raised awareness of what I was doing.
In 2017, I decided to leave my job in order to do this full-time. I financed myself by taking on odd jobs like working in a bar, and often staying on different people's couches whilst traveling. I was also given the opportunity to speak at different events, and in schools, which helped, and still does help me get by.
I didn't have a grand plan, I knew that if I began to logically think of my next steps whilst weighing up how much money I had in relation to how much rent I paid, I would have thought that it was a bad idea. But I wasn't thinking about it that way. I was very passionate about what I was doing.
I first traveled to Los Angeles in 2017. I was curious about what homelessness was like there. I was very surprised because I soon realized that homelessness was generally more concentrated in the U.S. There are blocks in a city where homeless people live as a community.
I felt that it was easier to dehumanize a group of people when they are all gathered together because they are perhaps somewhat forgotten by others. A lot of these people were also abusing substances because they had no access to professional mental health services.
Skid Row in Los Angeles was, and I still believe is, one of these areas. I set up a stand and began cutting hair there. I met families and made friends there, too.
I believe that we can raise all the money and all the funds in the world whilst advocating for policy and systemic change, but if there is a social gap between people, not much change can happen. This social gap causes others to be scared of homeless people because of the misconception that they are unhygienic, or dangerous. That's why I feel that storytelling can bridge that gap.
In 2017, my friend Jamie and I put on an art exhibition in Skid Row, working with local artists to create a multimedia exhibition that demonstrates the idea of isolation. Jamie took photos of some homeless people and I gave them haircuts. Those people became part of the exhibition. Jamie painted portraits using amazing colors.
This exhibition was very empowering for the people who felt invisible. We auctioned the paintings and directly gave the money earned to the homeless people who were living there.
All of these stories are so interesting. That's why, in 2021, I decided to write a book called "Do Something For Nothing." It's a series of stories from the people I had met on the street from all over the world. The book happened organically. As I was traveling, I'd make a note of all these stories.
The book really explores universal emotions and themes that we all feel as human beings regardless of whether we have a roof over our heads or not. Of course, that is not to take away from the struggle that one may feel when they do not have a roof over their head.
I made some lifelong friends along the way. In November 2020, I met a guy who was sleeping on the night bus in Amsterdam. He was in a very difficult place. I spoke to him again in September 2022, and he now has his own apartment. Life is a lot better for him and I have been able to be there for him through this process.
When you have this intimate but short-lived moment with a person, it is a surreal experience. You can't fix someone's life up, but you can be there to listen as a friend. You can offer support, and you can do something to help, with nothing in return.
Joshua Coombes is a hairdresser, public speaker, and author who runs the organization Do Something For Nothing. You can find him on Instagram, here.
All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
As told to Carine Harb.
