Hair Stylist Hauls Red Salon Chair Around City Streets To Give Homeless Free Haircuts

Jul 26, 2019 by apost team

In 2013, Katie Steller was in the process of opening up her own hair salon in Minneapolis when she had an idea to use one of the red salon chairs to carry out an act of kindness.

What Steller didn't know at the time is that her idea would grow into a platform that would connect the rest of her community. 

Katie decided she could use the chair to offer people free haircuts to people who needed help while she was driving around.

"I wanted to use my skill as a hairstylist to connect with, and show value to people in our community who are often overlooked," Katie wrote on Facebook.

So she would take the heavy, big red salon chair from her car and give someone a fresh cut who look like they could benefit from one. But why heavy salon chair?  

"I could technically cut somebody's hair in a folding chair or on a curb or wherever like I don't need that chair, but I think it's not about what's easy it's about what's really showing value to people," Katie said to KARE 11 News. 

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Katie's acts of kindness prompted her to start the Steller Kindness Project which not only continues her red chair and free hair cuts project but also is used as a platform to share stories of quiet acts of kindness from around her community.

"It doesn't take money or grand gestures to show up for people in your community. Slow down, make eye contact, and recognize that the person standing in front of you has a life that is equally as valuable as yours," the Steller Kindness Project facebook page said.  

Katie knows that having a fresh haircut or shave can make a world of difference to some people because she had experienced it herself. At a young age, Katie suffered from an illness that caused her to lose her hair. She told KARE 11 News, "When you start to lose it you don't realize how big of a part of your identity that it was."

She enjoys lifting people’s spirits through her talents, and she makes sure that she gives away as many haircuts as she can.

 "I don't do hair because I'm naturally good at it, I became good at it because I saw it as a way and a vessel to connect and care for people," Katie said to KARE 11 News. 

Katie told HLN that she knows that what she is doing isn’t going to end the homeless problem in her community. However, she wants to use her skills to do what she can. She hopes that what she does do with the homeless inspires others to help out in different ways. 

You can learn more about her project by watching the videos below:

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