SALT LAKE CITY — Warren Joseph Montes, or Joe as he's known to his friends, knows what a fresh cut can do.
“The first thing people see when they look at you, they look at your face, they look at how you are presented,” Montes said. “They look at your hair, they look at everything.”
Montes gives free haircuts several times a week at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, mostly to people experiencing homelessness or who participate in the mission’s programs.
“When people have fresh haircuts and stuff like that, they feel good about themselves, Montes added. “In the end that’s all we are really hoping for.”
Daniel Mitchell, a participant of the Mission's various service programs, has been getting clipped by Montes for years. On Christmas Eve, he sat in front of the mission to get another haircut from his favorite barber.
“Yeah, it’s a big confidence builder,” Mitchell said. “One of my things being homeless out there, you never really care about what you like because you're just running off your addiction and then when you get cleaned up and when your head gets back on straight, it's good to care about yourself again.”
A Phoenix native, Montes is a self-taught barber.
“Well, I started cutting my own hair when I was 13. My stepdad used to bald me and I hated it, so much," he recalled.
Giving free haircuts has allowed Montes to leave his own dark past with crime behind.
“I feel like I’m doing good when I cut people’s hair,” HE shared. “They look good, I make friends, and they get to see me for me instead of my past.”
Montes served seven years in federal prison, making it difficult for him to get his barber’s license and maintain a job. However, he says the Rescue Mission has given him tools to improve his life and give back.
“This place took me in," Montes said. "They showed me love, they taught me things.”
However, while Montes continues giving back to his community, he still works on himself.
“I’m at a place called the Switchpoint and it's helping me get my life together,” he explained.
Switchpoint is a community resource center in Salt Lake City that offers temporary housing.
“If it wasn’t for [Rescue Mission of Salt Lake] and [Switchpoint], I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now. I was lost. I feel like a lot of us on the streets are broken and we just don’t have direction," Montes said.
Montes’ direction these days includes attending Salt Lake Community College next year where he hopes to study graphic design. He also wants to get his barber license in the future, to keep people like Mitchell fresh and confident about their recovery journeys.
“What do they say, if you love what you do you never work a day in your life,” Montes said. “Not only do I love what I do but I love the people I do it for because they are appreciative."
