Pope Francis recently opened a state-of-the-art salon for the homeless in St Peter’s Square, where Rome’s downtrodden can now avail themselves of free shaves, haircuts and showers. The services offered at the salon would be paid for by donations and the sale of papal blessings. The idea for free salon services was conceived by the Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, the Pope’s chief alms giver, who was shocked when a homeless man refused a dinner invitation at the Vatican, saying he was embarrassed of how he smelt.
The salon, which opened on February 16, had over 40 homeless people turn up to have their hair trimmed and beards shaved by volunteer stylists on the first day itself.
One of them, Arianna Corsi, said, “We don’t want to just go over them with clippers. We want them to give them the full salon treatment. If they want a high quiff or a trendy goatee we will try to make them happy.”
Every homeless person that came to the salon, was handed a kit containing a towel, underwear, deodorant, soap, shaving cream, razor, toothpaste and toothbrush.
Barbara, 47, originally from Chelm in Poland, who currently lives in a tent on the outskirts of the city ever since she lost her job as a cleaner, said she would avail herself of the salon’s shower only once a week.
“The service is very modern and clean, and everything is provided. This pope is very kind. He is not as good as John Paul II, who was our Polish pope, but he is not bad at all,” she said.
Claudio, a former builder who has been living on the streets for close to a year, had his hair trimmed for the first time after he lost his job. He was stunned at how great he looked and said that he felt at least 20 years younger.
The stylists wore no masks or special equipment.
Corsi explained, “It is not as if we are being asked to work in Chernobyl. Mother Teresa did much more than us without any protection.”
All of the equipment at the salon, including hair brushes, razors, mirrors as well as chairs, has been donated by a local hairstyling school.
This salon is the latest of the many initiatives recently implemented by Francis in Rome. In January this year, he donated as many as 300 umbrellas from the Sistine Chapel’s Lost and Found section to those living on the streets. On Christmas last year, he asked for 400 sleeping bags to be handed out to the homeless.
Photo Credits: CNS News
