'This is amazing help': Free haircuts for students and teachers

It was a busy day for Go Cuts hair salon in Charlottetown,with a line waitingbefore they opened and a full waiting room for most of the day.It was time for back-to-school haircuts, and on Monday they were on the house.

Owner Jason Pitre says it'sthe first time the salon has held this event, and he'ssure it won't be the last.

"Lots of parents are getting their children ready for school, and teachers and there's lots of other sort of expenses and getting organized for that, so it's one thing that isn't on the expense checklist for the week."

"A lot of our staff have family and kids and I certainly have a handful of kids at home as well so I know that it's costly...so we wanted to do something to help families and it just seemed like the right time of year to do something."

Pitre said they saw many new faces as well as people who come to the salon regularly.

One less expense to worry about

Pitresaid there was a range of people, from families who might not have been able to get haircuts otherwise, to people who could afford a trim but every little bitstill helps out.

Amy MacKenzie was at the salon with her two youngest boys, aged fiveand eight.

She said getting the boys hair cut before school every year is a routine, but this year she wasn't sure if it would continue.

"With sending three kids back to school, it's a lot, so having free haircuts is definitelya huge help. We thought maybe this year we wouldn't be able to, and this is amazing help."

MacKenziesaid with this item off the budget, the boys will get to have amazing lunches.

New clients for new hairdresser

Rajaa Ibrahim and Tawfik Allaham are a married couple from Damascus, Syria.

They moved to P.E.I. about six months ago and have both been working at Go Cuts for about four months.

Pitre said the couple is still new to theindustry and they are building a clienteleand theevent wasa great opportunity for them to network.

Ibrahim said the event was very good because there were so many people there and they were so busy.

Discountscontinuing

With one hour to go, there were 155 people on the list who had either already had their haircut or who were up next.

Anyone who arrived near the end of the event and wasn't able to be seen was given a coupon to come back on Sept.14 for their free cut.

From Tuesday to Saturday of this week, students and teachers will get 20 percent off their services.