A St Albans shop owner has been offering free haircuts to homeless people after being told not to give one change.
Iblal Ashiq, 30, who owns City Barbers in Victoria Street first go the idea when a taxi driver told him that a homeless person in Iblal’s hometown of Luton was a known drug abuser.
When Iblal went back to the area and couldn’t find him, he decided to find others to cut their hair for free.
He said: “This was first time I’ve done something like this, and to be honest, the experience was amazing. It was interesting to find out their background, why they are on the streets and what happened to them.”
“I cut two people’s hair that day. One said he was 16 and his mum and dad were using alcohol and drugs regularly, they threw him out an he was made homeless because he had nowhere to go. Then he got involved with the wrong crowd and became abusing drugs himself. The council won’t give him a home me a house as they won’t even go there. I believed him, he was a very nice and genuine guy.”
The man told Iblal he was originally from Ireland and has been sleeping on the streets for 16 years.
Shocked by this, Iblal said he wants to get back out and cut more homeless people’s hair by visiting shelters.
Iblal said: “We should be giving homeless people food or drink instead of money because that would just been feeding their habits. Six months ago, I never thought this is something I would do but it’s a great feeling to be giving something back.”
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