Boston Salon Gives Homeless Women A Way To “Feel Good”

Sometimes, the most effective way to help someone in need is to make them feel good about themselves. One salon in Boston has taken that idea to heart. On one Monday a month for most of the past year, stylists open the doors at the Green Tangerine Salon & Spa at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston to do some good. Working in partnership with The Women’s Lunch place, a local outreach center, these hair pros provide free haircuts to local homeless women. Depending on the Monday, Green Tangerine will tend to anywhere from a few heads of hair up to about 25. Louise Rusk, the salon director, has noticed that for these women, feeling like you look good can make an enormous difference. “[Having their hair done] gives them the feeling that somebody cares, that they look pretty, and that they matter," she told Refinery29 by phone. "It’s so important because that makes them walk taller and feel good. They walk out of the salon differently than they walk into the salon." One of the bigger mental hurdles for the women who use this service at Green Tangerine: a sense of invisibility. “Who knows the last time anyone actually physically touched them?" Rusk says. "It’s a huge social connection in our lives. If someone comes in, shakes their hand, shampoos their hair, gives them a nice massage, and blowdries and cuts their hair, it makes them feel good. They feel like a brand-new woman.” Rusk believes it would be great if such gestures became more commonplace: “I think everybody should do something like this, because it’s the right thing to do. You help someone, you never know when you’re going to need help in your life, and you hope someone’s going to do the same back for you." The employees of Green Tangerine are not the only ones using the skills to help the world. A stylist in New York is also offering cuts. Maybe if we’re lucky, this is the beginning of a movement. In the words of Rusk: "Feeling good should absolutely not be kept for those who can afford it.”