Kourtney Hughes worked her clippers and scissors on one child after another while volunteering at a Stockton community center to provide free back-to-school haircuts.
One boy squirmed in his chair while the student from the San Joaquin County Office of Education’s Career Academy of Cosmetology carefully sculpted his hair. Another boy sat patiently while mom watched Hughes cut.
When the day was done, these boys and all the children who had their hair cut by the group of cosmetology students volunteering at the Villa Monterey Family Resource Center left with a new head of hair that would take them into the school year feeling like they walked out of a hairstylist’s salon.
Having that great first-day-of-school haircut is a big deal to a child, said Hughes between heads of hair. “It’s like getting the best new pair of shoes,” she said. In years past, Hughes had volunteered at a local food bank and elsewhere, but she had never volunteered her time cutting hair – which is something she loves to do.
Saving a few dollars by getting a free haircut can make a lot of difference for low-income families who see the cost of clothes, supplies and other back-to-school expenses mount up around this time of year.
“It’s one less worry,” said Mai Vang, who manages the center at Villa Monterey, one of the community centers operated by Community Partnership for Families of San Joaquin. Families who came for the haircuts could pick out donated clothes, too. For the children, having a good haircut and access to appropriate school clothes can help prevent a child from being teased, too, she said. “So the kids can go back to school and focus on their education.”
The event was organized by the nonprofit’s Erica Huerta, who called up the Career Academy of Cosmetology looking for volunteers who would come and cut hair.
And the volunteers came – both new and seasoned students at the academy, a fee-based Career Technical Education program at SJCOE for students who already have their high school diplomas or the equivalent
During the free-haircut event, instructor Sabrina Marquez went from chair to chair, picking up the clippers or scissors, sometimes, to give tips to her students.
“Our students get the experience, the kids get their haircut and everyone is happy,” she said.
Sarah Ruiz came with three kids going to school this fall. At $8- to $12-a-pop, the cost of haircuts would start to add up anywhere else. “It saves me a little bit of money,” she said.
And the cosmetology students know their way around some of the trickier hairstyles, too.
One of Ruiz’s boys came in with a slightly off-kilter Mohawk sculpted by the boy’s father. But the academy student straightened it out.
“It was a little bit crooked,” Ruiz said.
And now he’s ready for school.