BALTIMORE — "Look good, feel good," it's a mantra that applies to us all.
And one haircut at a time, barbers are helping some new clients turn turn feeling good into living better.
Buzzing clippers, music in the background and good conversations are all sounds of your typical barbershop but the fresh haircuts are on the house.
“It feels good man. It feels good. We’ve all been in situations where we weren’t so fortunate so to be able to help these guys, give them a shape up so they can go on a job interview, you know, so they’re all tight,” shared Corey Alston, a student barber at Baltimore Beauty and Barber School.
He’s trimming toward a change his newest client Carl Williams can already see.
“Before it’s like I’m a lil rough. You get what I’m saying? But when I actually do get my haircut, I feel like a new man,” said Williams.
He’s one of several new men with new a cut thanks to Trey Way Multi-Treatment Services.
“I just use this as a stepping stone.. like to help me get where I’m going in life,” Williams expressed.
Ericka Alston Buck, the program’s Chief Development Officer, partnered with her brother and his classmates for their "New Year, New You" initiative.
“Ladies know how we feel when we leave the hair salon and men know how they feel when they leave the barber chair so we wanted to give them that feeling,” said Alston Buck.
The haircuts are a part of a bigger vision.
The trauma responsive drug treatment program specializes in serving Baltimore’s more vulnerable population through their "REMIX" initiative tailored toward 18 to 30-year-olds.
“Our mission is to decrease homelessness, decrease recidivism, have them choose a better option than violence and conflict resolution,” Alston Buck explained.
Williams says ifs helping put him on the path toward what he wants in life.
“I’m going to hopefully start my own law firm or create a program similar to this because I really want to help people. I know how it feels to have less than nothing,” Williams shared.
That path to the courtroom as a lawyer and advocate is a few years and clean cuts long, but he won’t have any trouble finding a barber to help him out in the process.
“Once he’s a lawyer, he may still be coming with me to get more haircuts,” Alston hoped.
For more information about Trey Way Multi-Treatment Services and their initiatives, visit here.
