Louisville barber gives high school students free haircuts to help boost their confidence

(CNN NEWSOURCE) — Free haircuts on Friday.

That was the gift waiting for a group of high school students in Louisville, Kentucky after their English teacher wanted to boost their confidence.

“And I just feel different. Now I feel like my day is going to be, because after this I got a gym, so I’m ready to go in there and give people 30. Feel me? 30 in gym, a new haircut.”

That’s the type of confidence that comes with a new haircut.

Western High School freshman Marq Sheckles got a free cut in school Friday which made him feel like a new person.

An initiative started by ninth-grade English teacher Cicily Bullard, or Miss B, when she saw a need for it during a team bonding event.

“She wanted them to stand up and introduce themselves and one of her requirements was for the gentleman to take off their hoods. So one of my students stood up and he was very reluctant to take off his hood and when he did, everybody started laughing because his hair was beaten up and he hadn’t had a haircut in months. So right then and there, I’m like, okay, what can I do?” said Miss B.

So she took to Facebook to ask the barber community for help.

And her childhood friend Roe Da Barber came to shape up a problem she knows all too well.

“Because I was once going down the wrong path and someone was like, hey, what is it that you want to do? I said I do like cutting hair. So barbering saved my life. So maybe I can save some kid’s life, you know,” said Barber.

And with the snap of the clippers and the sharpness of the blade, Roe Da Barber is able to transform lives even if for a day.

“Making people feel good and when they get up out of my chair and that smile and you know, just they snapping it up and just making a person feel good,” said Barber.

Sheckles can testify.

He went three weeks without a haircut and now he’s ready to take on school and the world, and thanks to teachers like Miss B, he feels he can achieve it.

“And I feel like I’m real blessed to have a teacher like miss b. Because not only is she an English teacher, but to me, she’s like a guidance counselor,” said Sheckles.

The testimony Miss B feels shows she’s in the right place at the right time.

“Seeing them smile, seeing them more apt to ask questions. A lot of our students cower if I call on them and a lot of it has to do with their appearance and that anxiety of not looking their best. So looking their best, definitely improves productivity and engagement in the classroom,” she said.