Hairdresser does something truly amazing for a depressed girl who asked to have her matted hair shaved off
A HAIRDRESSER refused to shave a depressed girl's matted hair for her school picture - and ended up spending two days fixing it instead.
Kayley Olsson, from Iowa, won praise from thousands of strangers after she posted before and after photos of the girl's hair on her.
She told how her anonymous 16-year-old client had such low self esteem that she felt too worthless to even brush her hair.
The girl, who was due to start back at school in a few weeks, had asked the hairdresser to just shave off her matted locks rather than go through the pain and hassle of untangling them.
But Kayley said the girl's heartbreaking story inspired her to spend 13 hours over the following two days setting things right with her young customer.
The hero hairdresser transformed the girl's matted hair into an unrecognisable, stylish crop which her client could wear to school with pride.
When the snaps of the dramatic makeover were shared on Facebook, over 160,000 people liked the post and praised the hairdresser's kindness.
But, even better than that, the cut went down a treat with the one person who really matters: the girl.
Taking to Facebook, Kayley described the whole story of how her customer had hit rock bottom as a result of her mental illness.
But there was a happy ending, with the hairdresser's client saying: "I will actually smile for my school pictures today, you made me feel like me again".
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In her Facebook post, Kayley describes her time with the depressed girl as "one of the hardest experiences"
She said: "She got to the point where she felt so down and so worthless she couldn't even brush her hair, she told me she only got up to use the restroom.
"She starts back at school in a few weeks but she has her school pictures today. When she walked in she told us just cut it all off I can't deal with the pain of combing it out, she called herself worthless for it.
"It honestly broke my heart and we tried everything we could to keep this child's hair for her! At the end of the day I want this to be a lesson to people.
"MENTAL HEALTH is a thing, it effects people all around the world and of all ages. A CHILD should NEVER feel so worthless to not even want to brush their hair.
"After being here 8 hours yesterday and 5 hours today we finally made this beautiful girl smile and feel like she IS worth something!"
We recently told how one woman had shaved her head to raise awareness of a rare condition which sees her compulsively tear her hair out.
And earlier this year, we also revealed all the signs of depression to look out for in yourself and others.
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