Hair stylist hauls red salon chair around town to give haircuts to the homeless

Katie Steller is a young businesswoman who owns a hair salon that extends far beyond the four walls of her Minneapolis studio.

At least once a week Katie grabs her roaming red salon chair and hauls it around town in the back of her SUV asking homeless people if they want a haircut.

Her business is more than cutting and styling people’s hair, it goes out in the community with the hope of inspiring other people to do good things.

“If fear is contagious, why can’t kindness be,” Katie says.

Katie, along with her assistant Emily Lall, stops for anyone holding a sign asking for help and asks if they would like a free haircut.

“I could technically cut somebody’s hair on a folding chair or on a curb or wherever, like I don’t need that chair,” Katie says, according to Kare 11 News.

“But it’s not about what’s easy, it’s about really showing value to people.”

Katie first started giving out free haircuts to the homeless in 2013 but then took a break to build her salon business Steller Hair Company.

Now she’s back and with the help of her salon employees and volunteers she also distributes essentials to needy people.

“It’s looking at what skill do I have, what gift do I have, and how could that benefit somebody else,” Katie says.

Katie wants everybody to feel good about themselves; then, she says, they can be inspired to do great things.

This is a feeling Katie is all too familiar with. She was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when she was 11 years old and had to have her entire large intestine removed when she was 18.

Katie’s hair began to fall out as a side-effect of her condition.

“When you start to lose it, you’re like, wait, I didn’t realize what a big part of my identity that was,” Katie tells Kare 11.

“That’s probably my main motivator. I mean, I don’t do hair because I’m naturally good at it, I’m good at it because I saw it as a way and a vessel to connect and care for people.”

Show up and give back

Katie says she doesn’t have all the answers but believes “if we want macro changes, we have to start on a micro level.”

The Steller Kindness Project she also runs hopes to “give a platform, and create opportunities, for people who want to show up, and give back.”

Find out more about Katie’s kindness project in the clip below.

[arve url=”https://vimeo.com/243224651″ /]

Every day Katie goes above and beyond to be kind to people; proving it’s the little things that really matter. She is a true hero!

Please share Katie’s story and her inspirational project with others.