Free haircuts in the community

Description

A barber shop in Leith has offered free haircuts to the community.

Ben, the owner of Blox Barbers on Leith Walk wanted to offer something back to the community in the run-up to Christmas. After learning about the ESES Communities Portal, Ben approached the team with the idea of opening his shop on a Sunday to give haircuts to people in the community who would appreciate it most.

Through ESES Communities, Ben was put in touch with Bethany Christian Trust as well as Leith Citadel, who have been local leaders in community-based youth work since 1980. Both services appreciated the kind gesture and were happy to make local people who were most likely to be unable to meet the cost of haircuts aware of the offer from Blox Barbers.

 "The offer of a free haircut was fantastic for a range of our service users, many of whom affording a haircut can be challenging at this time of year. From young people involved in our youth work to older men and women in our intergenerational cafe, they can enter the festive period feeling confident in their new look."- Ryan McKay, Leith Citadel   

Ben from Blox Barbers has previously given his time and offered free haircuts to the community. In this instance, he wanted to perform a much higher volume of haircuts and was able to recruit the services of Kenan who travelled from Fife to volunteer his time and skills. They were able to give 18 haircuts to the community. However, Ben needed help with getting his message of free haircuts to the correct people.

 “It was great to get linked up to the ESES Communities team. I explained that I wanted to help the community but wasn’t too sure where to start. They took care of a lot of running around for me. It meant Kenan and I could focus on cutting hair. It was great to help so many people.” Ben, Blox Barbers