Twenty-Two Cuts at the Touchline
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A football tournament, a row of chairs beside the pitches, and twenty-two people who left looking like themselves again.
Stockport Sports Village
Beyond The Pitch is a free seven-a-side tournament organised by Manchester FA for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. This year it drew more than 120 attendees to Stockport Sports Village. Alongside the games, volunteers from Haircuts4Homeless set up and worked their way through twenty-two haircuts.
The volunteers came from local Haircuts4Homeless projects in the north, coordinated by Northern Projects Lead Jacki Hall. The charity's founder, Stewart Roberts MBE, was there too.
“Together, we’re providing small acts of kindness that can make a big difference.”Stewart Roberts MBE, founder
Ten thousand haircuts and counting
Haircuts4Homeless has been running since 2014 and has delivered tens of thousands of haircuts through a nationwide network of volunteer barbers and hairdressers. The stated aim is restoring dignity and confidence — which, put less formally, means giving someone back the version of their face they recognise.
Why the setting matters
Placing the chairs at a football tournament rather than in a drop-in centre changes the transaction. Nobody has to queue for help in a room designated for people who need help; they are at a sports day, and the barber happens to be there. That lowering of the threshold is doing quiet work, and it is the part shops can copy.
Twenty-two cuts across an afternoon is also a realistic number. It is one barber's ordinary day, given away.
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From the chair
Outdoor cuts are unforgiving: wind, daylight and no basin. Finishing products that control without weight do most of the work here, which is why volunteer kits tend to travel light and lean on a wax and an oil.
Source: Hairdressers Journal. Written for The Barber Journal.