“You sleep happy. This kind of experience, money can’t buy,”

The 26-year-old professional hairstylist, a volunteer with the Pertiwi soup kitchen, bantered with several homeless people as they queued up for a free haircut on a hot, sticky night at Kota Raya.
 So why does she do this?
Quite simply, Azmina wants the homeless to “look good” despite living on the streets.

 “I treat them like my clients, not as homeless people,” Azmina told The Malay Mail Online recently, as she put her clippers to work underneath fluorescent lights.
 “The human touch is very important… when I touch their hair, I feel comfortable. So, they feel comfortable too,” she said, as she talked about an old man who used to fall asleep whenever she cut his hair.
 Azmina has been cutting hair for the homeless for a year, after she spent two years doing other volunteer duties like monitoring the drinks station at the Pertiwi mobile soup kitchen that goes to Chow Kit, Kota Raya and Masjid India four times a week.

“You sleep happy. This kind of experience, money can’t buy,” she said.
 She said that her mother used to tell her to use gloves when cutting hair for the homeless, to which she would say:
“What if I cut your hair with gloves? How would you feel?”
The young woman pointed out that contrary to popular belief, the homeless were generally very clean. “There is no smell or lice, except that it’s greasy if they don’t wash their hair for weeks,” said Azmina.
As most of her clients are men, Azmina’s 25-year-old male cousin, who wished only to be known as Ali, acts as her “bodyguard.”
 “They don’t need the haircut sometimes; they just want the human touch,” said Ali, as he swept up excess hair from the floor.
 After their haircut, Azmina’s clients walk away looking visibly better than when they were queuing up. It is true that a good haircut can make you feel better about yourself. -

See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/with-her-bare-hands-a-hairstylist-serves-the-homeless-of-kl#sthash.4E5YbCO8.lHTF0jZV.dpuf