Volunteering in Antigua, Guatemala
What is Hair Aid?
Hair Aid Inc, is an Australian based not for profit organization that sends teams of volunteer hairdressers to slum and street communities around the world to teach those in critical circumstances hair cutting skills. Hair Aid works with the poorest community members, those rescued from sex trafficking, drugs and mafia hands, and we teach them hair cutting skills so they can earn money (without fear) to feed, clothe and house themselves and their family.
Podcasts Talking about Hair Aid
My Latest Project Oct 2024 - Daily Photo Blog
Hair Aid Day 1 - Hair Aid Day 1-2 💕 I arrived early (who knows with potential flight delays these days, and I didn’t want to miss anything!) to Guatemala City, had an overnight and the headed an hour away to Antigua, the city where we will be teaching.
The day before the on location project begins we spend organizing all the supplies - scissors, clips, combs, capes, spray bottles, towels etc. that we will use for the training program. Everything is donated!
We then discuss training styles and methods so every hairstylist is on the same page about how we are going to teach 5 haircuts in 5 days.
Afterwards we went for dinner together! (4 people not pictured, 16 of us total from around the world!)
Early start tomorrow morning to start the training program! 💕
Hair Aid Day 2 - First full day of training!!
I am excited to be in a location lead role for this project and have a great team of hairdressers to teach with. Our location partner organization Pro Chapino is a phenomenal non profit that helps support single mothers.
Our team (one of 5, in different locations around Antigua) is training 20+ women in basic hair cutting skills so when they leave, they have skills to earn and income and support their children.
Today we taught how to drape, hold our scissors and combs, how to section the hair and how to do a straight one length haircut.
By the end of the day everyone had done at least 2 haircuts on live models! Something at home would take at least 3 weeks of hair school training, and our trainees rocked it in 7 hours, all who spoke no english! (Thankfully we have a translator and a hairstylist volunteer who speak Spanish!)
Hair Aid Day 3 - Second day of training!
Today our trainees learned two new haircuts -a diagonal back (like curtain bangs) and a diagonal forward (like a long angled bob).
We had two new students join us in the morning so we had a separate area where one of the hair aid volunteers worked individually with them to catch them up.
By the end of the day all our trainees had done at least two more haircuts (some did 3 or 4!) all on live models. It’s crazy how fast they are progressing!
In the evening some of the volunteers did a cooking class together and learned a ton of traditional Guatemalan food ! 💕
Hair Aid Day 4 - Third full day of training
It’s amazing to see the progress and learning of our trainees over such a short amount of time. When the motivation of learning a skill for these single mothers is quite literally survival and putting food on the table of your children, you wouldn’t believe what people are capable of!
Today we taught two different styles and techniques of layers. The abundance of models we are able to get at this location (walking up and down the streets asking people if they want free haircuts has been quite successful!) has really helped all our trainees get so much practice in!! 💕
Hair Aid Day 5 - Fourth full day of training!
Today we had a local Guatemalan Pepe Barbero and some of his instructors from his barber academy come in for a few hours to teach our mens clipper cuts. It was so cool to see our students try out using those tools!
Later in the afternoon we taught our ladies scissor over comb, to do “Barber cuts”. Since clippers are expensive and require access to electricity, we teach techniques that can be achieved with the kits all our graduates receive - a pair of scissors, four clips and a comb!
By the end of the day they had done 2 full mens cuts on live models and blew us away with the crisp fades they created! 💕
Hair Aid Day 6 - Graduation day!! The 5 days of hair cutting training is complete - I’m so proud that all 22 of the trainees at our location completed the program!
Our location was at Pro ChapinA which is a local NGO that supports single mothers with a variety of programs, trainings and opportunities. A perfect partnership with Hair Aid!
A graduation certificate can get help get them jobs in salons so it’s important they are proficient when they finish. Graduation isn’t a given and certificates aren’t just handed out like candy. Each trainee learned 5 basic haircuts and did over 10+ live models.
Nothing can match the feeling of how proud I am of how hard everyone, trainees - volunteers - staff - have worked to bring this whole project together.
To be able to teach someone in 5 days a skill that will change their lives - literally provide them a path out of poverty and opportunity to earn an income to support themselves. It’s a feeling I can’t put into words. I am so grateful to have the ability to participate in this amazing organization
Hair Aid Day 7 - 💕 Hair Aid October 2024 Guatemala - Finished! 🇬🇹. My third (but not last!) Hair Aid project is complete!
I’m exhausted, both mentally and physically, and SO thankful to have been a part of this amazing team of international and local volunteers.
Our international volunteers came from around the world - this time from Australia, U.S.A, and of course Canada.
If you are a hairdresser reading this, know that YES you should definitely volunteer on a project. It’s hard to explain how phenomenal an experience is, all I can say is DO IT!
Hair Aid operates projects many times a year in Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and Guatemala.
If you have any questions, check out hairaid.org.au or message me!
Podcasts Talking about Hair Aid