Shirley Raines

Meet Shirley Raines. Every Saturday morning, she heads out to Los Angeles' Skid Row, home to one of the United States' largest concentrations of homeless people, where her team of volunteer hair stylists, barbers and makeup artists give free haircuts and makeovers for anyone who needs them. For a few hours, an entire city block is transformed into an outdoor beauty salon, where homeless people get to look good and feel better.

She said she came up with the idea for Beauty 2 The Streetz after volunteering at a soup kitchen, where she realized that while food, water and shelter may be what homeless people need to survive, a haircut, a new hair color and some makeup are what help them thrive. Her team has also stepped up their efforts since the outbreak of the pandemic, switching gears to provide essential needs such as hand sanitizer, food, and masks. Raines now goes out three times a week by herself to hand out care packages, and then again with her team of 25 on Saturdays.

"Just because they live on the streets doesn't mean that there aren't things we can do to help them not appear as they live on the streets. They may be homeless and live in a tent, but they don’t want to be dirty. They don’t want to be unkempt with their hair. They just don’t have any options. It's their right to be beautiful."