Women’s shelter opens new self-care station for the homeless
By Breana Ross
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — A shelter in downtown Baltimore is giving women a new tool to help them get back on their feet. T.I.M.E. Organization’s emergency women’s shelter serves 145 women by helping them rebuild their lives.
The shelter unveiled a new self-care station Monday to help with that effort. It’s a place where people struggling with homelessness can get their hair done by a professional stylist for free. Sitting in a salon chair and getting a new hairstyle can feel like a new beginning for many women.
“When you get your hair done, and you are outside, you just feel like a whole brand-new person, and a lot of people here at this shelter may not be able to get that done on their own,” Chantay Ambrose said.
Ambrose owns her own hair care business, Channy’s Creations, but she’s volunteering her time and talents styling women at T.I.M.E. Organization’s women’s shelter on a weekly basis.
“We are doing slick ponytails, feed-ins, silk press, and two strand twist with natural hair,” Ambrose said. “That should hopefully encourage them to go out in the world and be beautiful.”
T.I.M.E. Organization opened the salon at the shelter after success with self-care stations at two of their outpatient mental health centers in Glen Burnie and West Baltimore. It’s an ongoing partnership with Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps make beauty and barber services more accessible.
Stacey Walton is the Executive Director of Shelter Operations for T.I.M.E. Organization. She works with the women who live at the shelter daily and thought free hair care could boost their self-confidence.
“Financially, getting your hair done is really expensive, and so most of the ladies here, although we are helping them get different types of benefits or get employment, they don’t normally have money set aside to get their hair done,” Walton said. ” We hope that it helps to build their tool kit so that when they are going out for interviews or appointments or housing tours that, they feel good and know that this is not the end stop for them.”
The goal is to use the self-care station to give women hope for a better future.
“We really try to stress that this homeless state is temporary, and we really want to empower the ladies while they are here,” Walton said. “It’s one small piece of helping them feel better about themselves when they are going through this hard time so that when they go out to take care of their business, they feel good. They look good.”
Right now, Ambrose will style hair at the shelter’s self-care station every Monday and every other weekend. The shelter needs more volunteers to help style hair and provide other services for the women who live there. If you’re interested in volunteering, you can email them at skesslewis@timeorganization.org or visit the following website: timeorganization.org
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