A homeless man in his 60s who has lived through hard times was given a free haircut by an old friend, his first in six years, and the transformation of both his hair and his heart is nothing short of amazing.
Chandler Wood, 30, is a barber working out of Jackson, Mississippi. Mr. Wood regularly takes to the streets to give free haircuts to the homeless and shares videos on his YouTube channel. One day, his old friend, Don Fleming, came to his door, and he barely recognized him.
“Don is in his early 60s. I grew up living close to Don on my grandfather’s land in Florence, Mississippi. I grew up playing with his kids,” Mr. Wood, a father of three for whom family and faith are paramount, told The Epoch Times.
“My grandfather hired Don to help him with building for the business and in return my grandfather allowed him and his family to live in this very, very low-key trailer in the junkyard.
“My grandfather contacted me to ask about cutting his hair because Don ... doesn’t have any money to just go do that kind of stuff. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Don and, when he showed up, his hair was so long and just kind of matted. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is gonna be a crazy transformation.’”
Mr. Wood began with a consult as he would with any other customer, wanting Mr. Fleming to “feel like it was a normal service.” Mr. Fleming gave the barber carte blanche, simply asking for something “really short” and for his bulky beard to be trimmed down.
As the barber began, so the pair made small talk, and Mr. Fleming came out of his shell.
“He’s been through a lot. One of his daughters, I think she was in eighth grade, she died from spinal meningitis, and then shortly after that his wife died,” Mr. Wood said.
After decades of dependence on alcohol and cigarettes, Mr. Fleming’s health declined to the point where he couldn’t work at all. The barber’s grandfather allowed him to stay in an RV on the property, helping him out with food from time to time.
“I know he was excited to get rid of the hair just for health reasons, to allow him to breathe better,” Mr. Wood said. “For me, as a barber, it’s really satisfying to see a lot of hair come off and also ... a haircut might seem small and insignificant to some people, but it can really make you feel confident, renew you in a way that makes you want to go out and do something.”
After a jaw-dropping cut and restyle, Mr. Fleming saw himself transformed and was happy.
He later shared the video of the haircut on YouTube where it became viral. “A lot of the comments kind of resonate the same heart—the power of a haircut and what a haircut can do for a person,” Mr. Wood said.
Mr. Wood has heard from his grandfather that Mr. Fleming is still unable to work, and is still living in the RV, but is “getting by ... doing okay.”
“It was a humbling experience for me,” Mr. Wood said. “I was hoping that, at some point maybe, he'll come back for a cut or something and I could show him how many people have shown him love.”
