Nasir Sobhani AKA The Streets Barber Now at Culture King Melbourne
Nasir's life is an amazing story. Growing up in Japan, and spending time living all over the world. From University in Canada to Youth Work in the Jungles of Vanuatu, before moving to Australia and starting up his own initiative following his faith, to help the homeless. This program is called Clean Cut Clean Start #cleancutcleanstart.
You may have heard about this on the News, Nasir has been giving haircuts to the homeless and changing lives. The work is Amazing just take a look at some of the Stories Below.
This is Graham. He's 33 years old and suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He is forced to live on the streets because he has no family. When I asked him about homeless shelters, he told me that they couldn't accommodate him due to the fact that the government requires trained staff on-call 24 hours who are capable of caring and assisting people with disabilities - like Graham. However the cost is too high and shelters (like the Salvation Army) do not have enough funding for such staff, which means he often has nowhere to stay. The really sad thing is, he told me his disabilities were due to severe head trauma from his childhood. He explained that when he was 2 years old he was taken away from his Aboriginal mother and forced to go to an 'Anglo Saxon school'. This was an attempt for the Indigenous peoples to adapt and learn the Anglo Australian culture and way of life - in hopes that they forget their own culture. Graham was one of many children who were part of this 'Stolen Generation'. It was in school that he got beaten so bad that his skull shattered and left him with lifelong injuries. The brain injury left him with epilepsy and cerebral palsy - the right side of his body cannot function properly. When I began the haircut he told me the reason why he looked the way he did was because he simply couldn't reach his head properly to give himself a cut/shave. Even combing his matted up and dreaded hair was so difficult due to his inability to brush and comb his own hair. After a haircut, face shave and a dry shampoo treatment we finished of by styling his hair with some wax and hairspray and rubbed his face and neck with a sweet smelling aftershave. He was in tears when he saw his before and after photo - and then said he felt like a million bucks. Oh ya, this was his first haircut in 6 years.
#cleancutcleanstart #thestreetsbarber
This is Hailey, a 30 year old mother of 2. She has recently moved to Melbourne and is homeless. When I asked why she was on the streets she began to tell me something which affected me tremendously. Her ex partner stabbed her in the back while with her kids and then pushed her children off a cliff (they remarkably survived). As a result of this traumatic story, the kids were put into protection (she couldn't say where) and she left her area to try and find a safer and better place to settle. She is going from shelter to shelter looking for work and doing everything she can to try and get a place so she can be with her kids again. I wanted me to share her story particularly because people viewed her as just another homeless person with a drug problem. Clearly that is not the case, and I wouldn't have found out unless I spoke to her. She hasn't been able to pamper herself so we did a haircut and dry shampoo treatment. After we finished she saw the hair and said felt fresh and new again. I hope the next time I see her she's found a job and a place home. The struggle is real folks
#cleancutcleanstart #thestreetsbarber
Check out this interview with Nasir and get the whole story!
Nasir is now Cutting in Culture Kings Melbourne! Follow him on Instagram @thestreetsbarber and come down to the store to see him and get your hair cut by one of the most fascinating barbers in history!
You may have heard about this on the News, Nasir has been giving haircuts to the homeless and changing lives. The work is Amazing just take a look at some of the Stories Below.
This is Graham. He's 33 years old and suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He is forced to live on the streets because he has no family. When I asked him about homeless shelters, he told me that they couldn't accommodate him due to the fact that the government requires trained staff on-call 24 hours who are capable of caring and assisting people with disabilities - like Graham. However the cost is too high and shelters (like the Salvation Army) do not have enough funding for such staff, which means he often has nowhere to stay. The really sad thing is, he told me his disabilities were due to severe head trauma from his childhood. He explained that when he was 2 years old he was taken away from his Aboriginal mother and forced to go to an 'Anglo Saxon school'. This was an attempt for the Indigenous peoples to adapt and learn the Anglo Australian culture and way of life - in hopes that they forget their own culture. Graham was one of many children who were part of this 'Stolen Generation'. It was in school that he got beaten so bad that his skull shattered and left him with lifelong injuries. The brain injury left him with epilepsy and cerebral palsy - the right side of his body cannot function properly. When I began the haircut he told me the reason why he looked the way he did was because he simply couldn't reach his head properly to give himself a cut/shave. Even combing his matted up and dreaded hair was so difficult due to his inability to brush and comb his own hair. After a haircut, face shave and a dry shampoo treatment we finished of by styling his hair with some wax and hairspray and rubbed his face and neck with a sweet smelling aftershave. He was in tears when he saw his before and after photo - and then said he felt like a million bucks. Oh ya, this was his first haircut in 6 years.
#cleancutcleanstart #thestreetsbarber
This is Hailey, a 30 year old mother of 2. She has recently moved to Melbourne and is homeless. When I asked why she was on the streets she began to tell me something which affected me tremendously. Her ex partner stabbed her in the back while with her kids and then pushed her children off a cliff (they remarkably survived). As a result of this traumatic story, the kids were put into protection (she couldn't say where) and she left her area to try and find a safer and better place to settle. She is going from shelter to shelter looking for work and doing everything she can to try and get a place so she can be with her kids again. I wanted me to share her story particularly because people viewed her as just another homeless person with a drug problem. Clearly that is not the case, and I wouldn't have found out unless I spoke to her. She hasn't been able to pamper herself so we did a haircut and dry shampoo treatment. After we finished she saw the hair and said felt fresh and new again. I hope the next time I see her she's found a job and a place home. The struggle is real folks
#cleancutcleanstart #thestreetsbarber
Check out this interview with Nasir and get the whole story!
Nasir is now Cutting in Culture Kings Melbourne! Follow him on Instagram @thestreetsbarber and come down to the store to see him and get your hair cut by one of the most fascinating barbers in history!