VANESSA HOWARD: Some of the women that come here has never been called beautiful before.
VANESSA HOWARD: So our main focus is to just build them up.
VANESSA HOWARD: I am Vanessa Howard and I am a professional hairstylist.
VANESSA HOWARD: I have been running Giving Hands beauty salon for three and a half years.
I came up with the idea for doing the free sessions for the salon to start giving back once a
month to homeless women who were broken as I was. I was homeless for almost two years
and I had tried to commit suicide on several occasions. I became homeless through my children’s
father. I had to leave that abusive relationship. And, so, I left him and that was the start
of my, my homelessness and I had actually three children during that time, during that
process and we lived from place to place and, you know, from shelter to shelter and just
not having anywhere to go.
VANESSA HOWARD: We typically do 5 to 7 women once a month for our givebacks. We do a full-catered lunch.
VANESSA HOWARD: We do start off with doing hair and then we do facials, we do nails,
we do eyebrows and makeup. So the women when they come into our, they come in with walls
up, they come in broken, they come in also not knowing what to expect. And, so, we greet
them first of all with just warm arms and just welcoming them and making them feel loved.
MINDE SHORT: When I was standing at the Salvation Army, it was for the homeless and they had
some people come to help the homeless, you know, get haircuts and stuff like that. And
one of the people there had chopped all my hair off. I had really long beautiful hair.
I was pretty devastated because it had taken me my whole life to grow my hair.
VANESSA HOWARD: For me, you know, it’s easy to love all these women because it’s a place that I come from.
SHARDE BROOKS: What prompt me to be a part of Giving Hands foundation and to help these
women is from where we came from, being homeless before. I remember the most is how people
made you feel, how they treated you like you were less than or not equal to them.
MINDE SHORT: Well, I went through an actual panic attack when I sat down because I was
reliving the nightmare what I went through and it took her to actually with kindness
and love help me through that panic attack before I could actually let her touch me.
MINDE SHORT: And because she took the time to let me, you know, talk to her about what
happened, I was able to let her cut my hair. So I just want to say thank you very much for helping me.
VANESSA HOWARD: It feels wonderful making other survivors feel beautiful.
MINDE SHORT: Never been to a spa, never been to a beauty salon, it’s very nice.
MINDE SHORT: Makes me feel younger. Considering I have been feeling rather down, it gave me,
put a little of faith and hope back in me.
VANESSA HOWARD: I just get overjoyed to see when women gain their confidence, gain their
self-esteem back and feel whole again.
MINDE SHORT: I never heard of a salon helping people. In today’s society, they would rather
step over you than help you up off the street, and that’s the truth, you know, and that’s what’s so sad about it.
VANESSA HOWARD: The community has acted extremely well through the sessions that we have given.
98% of the women have gotten jobs and homes through our givebacks. So, it’s been very successful
in the community.
SHARDE BROOKS: Just making a difference in that one person’s life is more than enough for me.
PRECIOUS BROOKS: My mom, she would always talk about one day giving back to the women
that went through similar situations and to see whatever their issues are, to see the
actual salon and to see it in action it’s just, you know, it is life changing.
VANESSA HOWARD: Some of these women coming here have dealt with domestic violence, have
dealt with homelessness. Some of these women even dealing with suicide and they being to
open up to us and allow us to just feel better about themselves.
KATHLEEN EDSON: I am feeling blessed to be able to have that opportunity again.
KATHLEEN EDSON: I love my new look.
VANESSA HOWARD: Just being able to serve them and love all them, it really, really helps
us to stay humble and it helps us not to forget, you know, where we come from.