A good deed leads to another – the law of life, which, in his case, worked 100%.
Former hairdresser Brennon Jones recently gave up scissors and transitioned to a stylist to make a living.
However, during his free time, he would take his scissors and a chair, roaming the center of Philadelphia (United States), voluntarily giving haircuts to the homeless. He called it his “personal mobile salon.”
“Whenever I saw a homeless person sitting on the street corner, I would go out and start a conversation with them,” Brennon recounts.
According to him, it all started earlier this year when he gave a few dollars and a banana to a homeless person on the street. The image stayed in Brennon’s mind for a long time.
“I was tormented by the fact that I hadn’t done enough for him. I missed a potential opportunity to change his life, to help more,” explains the hairdresser.
He was contemplating what he could do for the homeless, and the answer came naturally – haircuts. Brennon vividly remembers his first client.
“I asked if I could offer him something other than money. He said it was unlikely. And then I said I had an idea. Can I offer you a haircut?” Brennon recalls.
The man was interested but didn’t want to leave his spot. The hairdresser assured him that it wasn’t necessary – everything needed for a haircut was in his car.
Right on the sidewalk, Brennon gave a homeless person a haircut, the first of the few hundred he would serve in the months to come.
He named his initiative “Haircuts for the Homeless” and began sharing it on social media. The information quickly spread and led to an unexpected outcome for Brennon.
Sean Johnson, a 44-year-old man, also a hairdresser and owner of a salon chain in Philadelphia, contacted Brennon and offered him a barbershop.
It turned out that Sean had struggled to promote one of the salons for two years. When he heard about the promotion, he realized it would be a great deal.
“I looked at his tools and noticed he didn’t have modern equipment,” Sean said during their first meeting.
Brennon declined the offer to work in one of the Shona chain salons. A few months later, the business owner came up with a new proposal: cutting the hair of the homeless in a barber shop that would be entirely at Brennon’s disposal.
