"No one will commit suicide with beautiful, freshly washed hair...”

Twice in my life, I have thought about how our relationship with our hair is a reflection of our state of mind. I had to spend a few weeks in a psychiatric hospital after a major loss. The first time I walked past the nurses' room to the shower, shampoo in hand, the nurses nodded at me with a smile. I felt I had made a big breakthrough. The second time I had the same experience as a help-line worker, only this time from the other side, the helping side. The moment I was sure that the lady on the other end of the line wasn't going to commit suicide that night was when I managed to talk her into a hair wash. Nobody with beautiful, freshly washed hair commits suicide...

Neglected hair can indicate a gloomy state of mind. However, a pretty hairstyle can help you see the world as hopeful again.

- Gábor, where did the idea come from? Is there a philosophy behind it similar to mine?

- It all started during the economic crisis of 2008. The way the economy suddenly collapsed, families were going down, losing their homes... I thought I had to help people, but as my financial means were not very good either, I helped in the best way I could: with my work. One of my colleagues at the time had lost his job. He had two unemployed adults and two teenage children in his family. I made a red, custom bob hairstyle for his wife. That's my philosophy.

- Since then, it's become part of your life that every weekend you load your hairdressing equipment into your car and drive to unheated farms, to mothers' homes, sick people... Remember the day you decided that from now on your scissors would be the tool you would use to help others?

- I remember coming home from work on a Friday night, but I don’t remember the year. The following week I approached a lot of local organizations with my idea. Unfortunately, these big charities, the Red Cross, and Charitas operate very difficultly compared to my little venture, so I made a social media page instead and started from there.

All I do is simply give a free haircut to people who can't afford to pay for it. Or for those whose health doesn't allow them to go out.

Usually, I only do cuts, but if I have the time and I can get dye and tools, I can do whatever they wish. I don't need a big organization behind me, people in need can find me anyway.

- There is not a single photo of you on your page, you only share pictures of your haircuts.

- The whole thing is very simple. My name is Gábor Horváth. I was born in Szombathely, and I've been living here ever since. I'm 39 years old, and I am a qualified hairdresser, but never entered the beauty industry. I chose this career under family pressure. At the time, it seemed that taking over my uncle's hairdressing business would provide a secure livelihood. It turned out differently, I didn't get the business, and I had to look for another career. For a while, I worked in my father's garage, but we had to admit that the tiny workshop couldn't support the wages of two people, so I ended up working for a local multinational company. At first, I was a laborer, later I was allowed to operate machines, and then I was allowed to work independently. After a few years and a few courses, I was able to work as a machine setter. Since then, I have moved up the ladder, working in quality assurance. In the meantime, I started a family and became a husband and a father. I also hung up my racing helmet and overalls. With a childhood friend, I spent ten wonderful years in the Hungarian rally scene.

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Some of Gábor's hairdos – Photo: Hajvágás Ingyen

- How do you decide whether to say yes or no to a request?

- The first few sentences tell me everything. Whether the person is really in need or just trying to save a few thousand forints. The profiles on social media sites are also telling, and there's always someone you know who knows the person and you can ask. I have had to learn to say no, I found myself in trouble because of this on several occasions. There were times when I was at the house already and decided to turn back. But in most cases, it is really those who live in difficult circumstances who find me.

- What does a program like this look like, where do you go?

- I go to people’s homes, that's the rule. My privacy is inviolable, as is my home. We make appointments, if I go out of town, I usually put those who live close to each other on the same day. I need freshly washed hair and a chair... If there's electricity, I'm happy, but if not, that's fine too. It doesn't bother me if the building is dilapidated if there is no running water if it lacks anything else that others take for granted.

This is when human lives are revealed when the real conditions of those at the bottom of society become apparent.

I had a guest called Vera, who unfortunately is no longer with us, she lived 150 kilometers away. She was living in difficult circumstances, losing her son and then her husband. She rented a tiny council flat, and in winter she often had no heating, she was starving. I brought her food and clothes on several occasions, her hair was falling out quite badly and I managed to fix it. There were always tears when I showed her freshly cut hair in the mirror. She died in February this year when she has just started to recover. She started to have a relationship, she got a job. She didn't call for weeks, I found out from her cousin that she died. Pulmonary embolism.

- Do you have a guest you return to?

- Fortunately, I am invited back to many places. My waiting list can be several months, and often they book the next appointment before the hairdo is done. However, there are always empty days, which I save for unexpected situations, weddings, or deaths. And these are the days when I go to families with sick or disabled children, or to abused women who are not easily accessible at any time, residents of mothers' and children's homes, and I also reserve appointments for hairstyles that I would love to do but haven't had the chance to do yet.

- Which story has left the deepest impression on you?

- I was contacted years ago by a disabled lady who was a single mom, raising her son alone after the death of her husband. We became friends almost.

- You have come into contact with a lot of people over the years.

- Thanks to my connections, we were able to bring an old friend of mine and her few-month-old son from Ukraine to Hungary in March this year to escape the war. The whole story was a cooperation of a lot of people, it wasn’t just me. My wife took the money from our family savings to pay the Ukrainian border guard to let our guests through without a passport. I also owe thanks to my workplace, which paid for most of the donations that were sent there, to my colleagues who all gave something from their little, and to my friend who runs the car hire company that gave us the van (even though he knew where we were going). Thanks also go to friends in the health sector who gave us the medical equipment.

My word was enough for the people to give. No one ever asked for a single receipt. These are what I consider connections.

- Do you want a happy or sad story to end our conversation?

- Unfortunately, I have more sad ones. It would be difficult for me to share something hopeful from this perspective because the people I am in contact with are in very hopeless situations. They are living from one day to the next, they only see from one paycheck to the next. True, I just had a 63-year-old lady customer who was greeted with a "hello" in the shop when they saw her new hairstyle... That's enough for her. And for me too.