These Photos of Homeless People Getting Haircuts Will Make You Cry

"This is Chris. He was 21 years old when I met him, and his birthday was the following day. He has no family that he can contact or be with — he has basically been entirely alone for the past 11 years. He has been on the streets and homeless since he was 10. Yeah, I know, insane but a sad reality. I asked him how that's possible, and his reason gave me chills. 'I hated having to constantly wear extra layers and warm clothing at school when it was hot,' he said quietly. I asked him what he meant by that, and he said that it was to cover up the bruises from getting hit by his dads. 'Dads?!' I said, and he replied, 'Yeah, both by my real dad and also my step-dad.'"

"This is Janko. He's in his 40s and has no partner or children. When he approached me cutting another client, he was very drunk and asked if I could give him a cut when I was finished. I told him of course and that I'd be finished soon. He waited his turn patiently, and when it was time for him, he sat down and told me he wanted a number two all over — which he later admitted was because he didn't know when his next cut would be. I asked him about his life story, and he told me that he was homeless because his old landlord kicked him out of his place, and ever since then, he hasn't found a place."

"This is Charlie. A 38-year-old mother of one. She's been on the streets from the age of 13. From adolescence, she became an orphan and [was] raised by nuns in an orphanage. She escaped and began living on the streets and got introduced to drugs at the age of 13. That is when she first tried heroin. She has been hooked ever since."

"This is Shane. He's a 29-year-old father of one. The thing is, I've met Shane before, and I have given him a cut (his story is one of my first during my #cleancutcleanstart project — you can find his story in my earlier pictures). Now we get to have an update to his story! Unfortunately, he was still living with his wife on the streets. However, he had decided to quit using heroin and tried getting back on his feet again."

"This is Hasan. He's 32 years old and suffers from a heroin and meth addiction. He approached me, asking with a huge smile, 'Hey, do you have time to give me a cut?' I told him to grab a seat and began cutting. I asked him if he wanted to share his story, and he just said 'I'm homeless' — with a beautiful smile on his face, which he kept the entire time I spent with him. However, he was shaking constantly, which I initially thought was because he felt cold. I asked if he wanted to wear my jacket for a bit to warm up, but he said, 'I'm not cold . . . it's the withdrawal.' When he said that, it clicked — he was withdrawing from heroin."

"This is Rachel. She is 28 years old and has one son. I was roaming the streets with my kit and Rachel walked by and said, 'Hey, you're the guy who gives free haircuts to us street folk!' I said hi and asked if she was keen to get a free cut, which she was. This made me particularly happy because that day I had my friend Saba (@monzaviyan) offering to do makeup for my female clients if they wanted it. Anyway, we started talking, and Rachel told me she had been on the streets since she was 13 years old. She didn't go into too much detail but told me that she really had a rough upbringing and that's why she ran away and got adopted by the streets. She told me she had been using heroin on and off for 15 years."

"This is Mark. He's 28 years old. He hasn't had contact with his family for nearly a decade. I've known of Mark for a while now and would show him love every time I bumped into him, and he would reciprocate with so much joy. You could tell he just wanted someone to talk to. Today when I saw him on the street, I asked if he'd be interested in a cut. His eyes lit up as he said, 'Ya man, I haven't had a chance to get groomed in eight or nine months.' He told me he'd been homeless for three years."

"Jen, a 50-year-old mother of four, grandmother of three. Her kids don't talk to her anymore, and she suffers from a heroin addiction. She told me she hasn't been able to get a proper cut in almost five years — let alone anything that had to do with her getting 'pampered' — and said she was in desperate need for some attention on her hair. I brushed her hair free of knots, cut the split ends, reshaped her fringe, gave a dry shampoo treatment, and massaged her hair and scalp with a coconut serum to help replenish the dry, damaged hair she had."

"This is Duat. He is 34 years old and from Africa. As I recall, he said his mother was South African and father was Sudanese. Before I even got to set up shop, he raised his hand toward me and gestured that he wanted a cut. It turned out that the man sitting next to him was on the streets and had seen me before cutting hair for his friends and told Duat what I do. He came over quite excited with a smile on his face and introduced himself. He was looking quite rough when I saw him, and before I even got to ask what was wrong, he told me, 'I have just come out of the hospital.' What had happened was he was tending to the aid of one of his sisters, who had an abusive partner. When he went to help her out, he got swarmed and attacked by five or six men — beating him so hard it landed him in the hospital for almost a week."

Hear more of Sobhani's clients' stories when you visit his Instagram account.