Glasgow salon Nineteen gives free haircuts and food to city's homeless

Staff at Nineteen wanted to do their best to give back to the community by hosting the event on Wilson Street in the Merchant City on Monday.

Almost 30 people – either homeless or less fortunate – turned up at the salon for the event.

Grant Carr, owner of Nineteen, said he began planning the event ahead of its launch at the start of December after thinking about the scale of homelessness in the city.

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The 31-year-old told the Glasgow Times: “I’ve worked in Glasgow for 14 years and the last two years things just seem to have got really bad.

“You can’t walk to and from your car for example without seeing homeless people.

“When I planned to launch Nineteen I realised it would be pretty near Christmas time, so I figured it would be the right time to plan a day and give back.”

Grant has since revealed that the salon now plans to hold homeless events every three months.

He added: “The problem is getting worse, but even if we help for just one day it’s making a difference.

“The event was very successful so I think we’ll now do it every quarter.”

Nineteen staff asked their friends, family, clients and others to bring in donations to help make the day a success.

The group was overwhelmed with clothing items and male and female toiletries – which they organised into bags for people to take away with them.

Popular restaurant chain Nando’s also provided a large amount of food for the day.

Grant added: “It was a really sad but also happy day.

“The people who came in were so overwhelmed that people actually cared for them, that was very sad to see.

“One woman was tearing up, she got her hair done all nice and got some new clothes which was great.”

Grant told the Glasgow Times how they actually received more donations than needed – with plans to now hold back the extra items for future events.