Joshua Coombes became the founder of #DoSomethingForNothing.

Joshua Coombes – video transcript

I grew up in Exeter, in Devon. I came from a house with lots of love. I grew up with my mum and two sisters, and we lived on a council estate. 

For me, my school experience, in general, wasn't a positive one. And I think looking back I can see that with more clarity now. I was never academic and I think I always had problems kind of concentrating. And I knew from an early age, I was better with my hands. To be honest, finding music was what really saved me because in school, I was not doing well at all. And my auntie actually, it was my 15th birthday, and she gave me her old record collection and it was full of punk vinyl. Some of these bands, it was just a moment for me that changed everything. I just felt like it was another option. And I got a guitar and another friend bought a guitar. And then we started a band and we found people who felt the same. And like, if you're weird, then you're in, come on in, like, this is for you as well. Those formative years being a teenager, that was like a route that's kind of grown within me. Even though my life's changed a lot since then.

I'd love to tell you I had this burning passion and desire for hairdressing and I really loved the industry, but it's not true. I'd finished my music and stopped touring and I needed some money. I remember I was on a trip to see a friend in New York and I walked past a salon there and I saw this guy come out and he was checking this girl's hair in the natural light outside. And I just like got this moment where I really saw how passionate and like how the creative side of this was something I hadn't seen before. And I think I was really naive because I thought, "How hard can this be? I can play guitar, surely I can just cut hair?" It was a lot of learning. It really humbled me because it took me back to having to learn something from scratch, all over again. That training process like lasted a year. So, then I started working in the salon and I think really quickly I realised how important my role was, not just to make someone feel good on the outside, like what a haircut brings superficially, but to actually be there and listen. That's how I think I fell in love with it because it was about that listening side and about being there in a different way.

One day I met somebody who's living on the street and I had my backpack with me. I was on the way to cut someone else's hair outside of work. And that was a moment where I'd stop, and I bought him a cup of tea or I'd do the things that I think a lot of people would maybe do like hand someone some pocket change or buy someone a coffee. But it was like a light bulb that I remembered I had my scissors, my clippers and trimmers and stuff in my backpack with me. So I asked this man whether he wanted a haircut. And he said, "Yes." And it was interesting because not only did I have the chance to hear about his story and what led him to experiencing homelessness but suddenly I was seeing the footsteps walk past. I was like aware of being removed from society in a way that I think, that feeling of isolation, I think like that was something that really clicked with me immediately in this first haircut. And I thought, wow, that alone for me, like thinking about my own life would be really detrimental to my wellbeing.

So yeah, I started cutting this guy's hair and at the end, I handed him the mirror, and that was like this really nice moment because I felt like there was someone in him that came to life that wasn't there at the beginning of the haircut. And that he recognised someone that perhaps he hadn't seen for a little while. Yeah, he became a really close friend, someone who I'd see often and through introducing me to other people he knew, it started me on this process of whenever I had time off I'd start going out and doing this more and more. I was learning about people's stories and I felt like through just going out, leaving my door, and my house in South East London, taking my backpack, wandering in and meeting people. And sometimes I'd cut their hair, sometimes I wouldn't. But spending time with people I wouldn't usually, it felt like a useful way to spend my day, yeah.

Through the work that I do and through cutting hair on the street, I started telling stories on Instagram and I guess the reaction from people is what led this simple act of a haircut to become like a global movement of people doing different things. And I used to finish these posts with #DoSomethingForNothing.

It doesn't really matter what you do but it's really nice to have moments in your life where the only transaction is time. Yeah, it's nice to just sometimes go out and be available for people without expecting anything. What happens, I think, as we grow is, we stop becoming as curious about people. We start to close and we start to become busier and busier with life. But as soon as you open that curiosity again about people, that's where it all starts.

Look at like every conversation, like a, I don't know, an opportunity to learn, instead of having an opinion. What's really important about the stories of people I meet and trying to tell those stories is that I think there's nuances that happen within these moments of a haircut that I have with someone that dissolves a lot of the stigmas surrounding homelessness in general. But I think more importantly, make us feel the human side that we can all relate to.

I think we all know what it's like to feel the dark stuff, like to feel pain, to feel ashamed of something you've done, to make mistakes, to think you're in control of your life, and then realising one day you're not. I'm not into the things that divide us. I'm into trying to find the things I think we can all relate to. I think, unfortunately, a lot of that stuff is through the hard things and the struggle we experience, no matter whether you have or have not.

I meet countless people on the street and there's usually one fundamental thing and reason that like umbrellas all of the reasons as to why someone might end up living on the street. And it's like a lack of a safety net, a lack of a support system, a lack of like even one person in there, who's like unconditionally going to love you, despite your mistakes. And despite the things you're going through.

If you've got the mansion, and you've got all those things, I just really hope that you've also got someone who would do anything for you, who would be there for you, through thick and thin, because that is rich to me. That's what success means.

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Joshua Coombes became the founder of #DoSomethingForNothing.

Since giving his first haircut on the street in 2015, the social movement he started has reached over 100 million people around the world.

His social media posts on acts of kindness have inspired thousands of people to support their local communities.

He continues to cut hair for people experiencing homelessness, supporting those who feel lost and unheard in society.