Duncan stylists donate time to give gift of haircuts

Barb Stevens and her staff at Hair at 60 Queens hair salon are using their talents to help the homeless.

Stylist Jenn Newman gives a free cut to a client at Warmland House, part of Hair at 60 Queens salon’s drive to brighten the holidays for those less fortunate.

Stylist Jenn Newman gives a free cut to a client at Warmland House, part of Hair at 60 Queens salon’s drive to brighten the holidays for those less fortunate.

Barb Stevens and her staff at Hair at 60 Queens hair salon are using their talents to help the homeless.

Stevens and a number of her hairstylists donated their time and expertise at Duncan’s Warmland shelter on what was supposed to be their day off on Nov. 27 to cut the hair of 16 of Warmland’s clients.

That followed another community event on Oct. 13 that saw Stevens and her staff cut the hair of approximately 60 disadvantaged people.

Stevens, who has been in business for six years on Alderlea Street in Duncan, said she was looking for a way to give something back to the community, and figured doing what they do best would be a great way to move forward.

“With the way the economy is going and with so many people hurting as a result, we’ve found that haircuts make people feel better about themselves and help them not stand out so much,” Stevens said.

“One guy with really long hair didn’t want me to stop cutting his hair. He just smiled through the whole haircut.”

Stevens said she’s found the whole experience so fulfilling that she and her staff are holding another haircutting event at the Warmland shelter on Dec. 11.

She said she’s been putting up flyers announcing the event at food banks and other locations throughout the area.

“We only gave four days notice for the event on Nov. 27 and still had 16 people participate,” Stevens said.“We’re hoping that by giving lots of notice for the event in December and putting up the flyers, we’ll have more people who are down and out come to Warmland for haircuts, and not just clients from the shelter.”

Cowichan Valley Citizen