A high-end New York hair stylist is getting even higher marks for giving the cutting-edge look to the homeless.
When Mark Bustos isn’t working at Three Squares Studio — which has been praised in GQ, Details and Vanity Fair — he can be found roaming the city streets, offering sophisticated trims to those who need it most.
He does the hairstyles of wealthy clients in an upscale salon in New York City, but on Sundays, his only day off, he does it for the homeless.
Mark Bustos, a 30-year-old Filipino-American hairstylist of Three Squares Studio, is making the rounds in social media after a story made by The Huffington Post on his Instagram posts about giving a cutting-edge look to the needy.
Bustos said he’s been offering free haircuts to the poor since a May 2012 trip to his family’s native Philippines, where he temporarily rented a barber's chair to offer his services to underprivileged kids. He meant it, he said, as a tribute to his girlfriend’s late father, who used to get his haircuts at that shop.
Bustos, who kicked off his hairstyling career at age 14 out of his parents' garage, said that he's “never made a penny in my life (that) hasn't had to do with hair.” Although he says he wishes appearances weren't so vital, he notes that people are treated better when their hair is styled neatly.
“I do believe people with a proper, professional haircut receive more respect than those who do not have a proper haircut,” Bustos said. “Having a proper haircut also gives the recipient much more confidence.”
Bustos strolls the streets of New York most Sundays to continue the tradition he started in the Philippines and later duplicated in Jamaica, Costa Rica and Los Angeles. He said he also offers food to the people he helps.
In another post, Bustos is styling the hair of a woman who’d held a cardboard sign that reads, “Anything will help!” and “Happy Mother’s Day.” In a third post, a man with shaggy hair and a scraggly beard in one frame appears with a neatly parted coif and an even stubble in the second frame. “My parents will be so proud of me when they find out why I’ve been missing Sunday dinners,” reads Bustos’ caption.
The stylist said he can’t believe the story has gone viral.
“It doesn’t feel real,” he added. “All of this was just a simple wish and a dream.”
