A free hairstyling initiative was launched in south-east London last month for children going back to school.
Author Kelechi Okafor initially funded 11 boys and 11 girls to get their hair done ahead of the new school term.
Partnering with salon Exclusive Cuts on New Kent Road to deliver the service, the salon offered 10 extra slots to boost the number to 32. This would eventually grow to 60 in total after donations.
For the 38-year-old writer, it was “common sense” that she would use her surplus to give back to her community and help children from diverse backgrounds.
Kelechi said: “Community is just my heartbeat. It’s unfortunate that the government to a certain degree isn’t supporting us the way that it should … but at some point, we have to be responsible for each other.”
Parents would come with their kids and quote her name to redeem a slot with either Toby, her son’s barber, for haircuts, or her hairstylist Desiree for simple cornrows.
She took to Instagram to raise awareness for the scheme and people were eager to contribute.
She said: “People started sending me donations, so I took those straight to the hair salon. Overall, 60 slots were filled.”
As Kelechi updated her followers on the progress of the scheme, some pointed out the lack of accessibility for disabled and neurodivergent kids.
She listened and together the community delivered.
The surge in donations and the barber’s generosity enabled a mobile hairstylist to travel to the children’s homes to cut their hair within and outside the borough.
The mobile barber, Steven Bakare, 41, said: “The [SEN kids] not always thought about and because I do offer mobile appointments, I offered 10 free haircuts to anyone that was in need.”
As more people were eager to contribute, donations which Kelechi was receiving through a private PayPal link had to be ceased as the school term was in full swing.
The response to the scheme was overwhelmingly positive.
One commenter who accessed the service said: “Thank you for your generosity. As a boy mum, it’s a blessing to understand how much these boys appreciate the love and care just as much as our girls.”
However, there was some pushback from people who questioned how Kelechi could be sure that the people using the service really needed it.
In response, she said: “One of the problems [is that] we don’t trust each other.
“There are enough hoops that people have to jump through in society…why make things worse?”
She hopes that community initiatives like this will be “self-generating” as more people get involved and take inspiration.
One person from Bristol saw her post and started the scheme within their community.
Kelechi is also a political commentator who is not new to the organising space.
She’s run this initiative periodically in the past with a barber shop in Bermondsey, and in May 2024 opened a children’s home and resource centre in Lagos Nigeria.
She dreams of what the hairstyling scheme could be like if she were to run for Mayor or, as she would have it, ‘Muvva of London’.
It would be rolled out across all the London boroughs and go beyond Black inner-city children to include anyone who needed it.
Kelechi added: “The salons would be able to sign up to the scheme and they would be apportioned a particular budget, so people in the borough who need to access [it] can go there.”
Featured image credit: Rume Otuguor
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