Free haircuts before prom, job interviews and tryouts

Aleksander Yakimiw-Martin gives free haircuts to people having a rough time, and he is specific about what he has watched it do. It changes someone's day, he says, "making them feel noticed, respected, and actually good about themselves."

He did not set out to do any of this. "I started cutting hair just as a skill I wanted to learn, but it turned into something way bigger," he says. The turn came when he pointed the skill at something outside himself. He ran the cuts as a fundraiser for rebuilding schools in Ukraine, a country his family comes from, and that is the moment he marks: "It really hit me when I used my cuts to raise money for rebuilding schools in Ukraine."

I've seen how much a simple haircut can change someone's day, making them feel noticed, respected, and actually good about themselves.

Aleksander Yakimiw-Martin

What he wants to build next is mobile. Portable gear and a barber chair he can carry into youth centres, schools and community spots, and confidence days aimed at the moments where looking presentable is doing real work: prom, job interviews, sports tryouts. Free cuts for the teenagers who would not otherwise get one before a day like that.

He captains his U18 hockey team, which he traces the approach back to, encouraging teammates and leading by example. And he is clear that the haircut is a way in rather than the point. "It's not just about the hair though," he says. While he cuts, he wants to talk to them about finding something they are into, and show them how one small skill can turn into something that matters.

Haircuts for Hope has been covered by CTV National News, Global National and CJAD 800.