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How one salon owner helped a homeless woman

Posted at 12:27 PM, Dec 18, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-18 15:34:26-05

When a woman walked into Teves Lee's salon in Long Beach, Calif., she didn't realize just how much the haircut would mean to her.

Lee, 43, has been cutting hair for 32 years. Her salon, Your Hair N More, is appointment-only. But when a woman walked in earlier this month without an appointment, Lee told ABC News that "something about the lady told me to tell her to come back."

Lee said the woman returned the following day and after a consultation, she noticed that the woman's hair was dry, brittle and hadn't been shampooed in a while. She even noticed some debris in her hair and that's when she realized the woman was homeless. "It was bad," Lee said. 

"I asked her had she considered cutting it off to make it easier to maintain. I told her, 'You're not in the position to keep your hair done or sleep in places that allow it to stay clean,'" Lee recalled. "I convinced her to get a cute women's cut."

Lee admitted that the unidentified woman was hesitant to cut her hair off, especially since she requested her hair to be washed and blow-dried.

My good deed for the day.... She is a homeless women that came in yesterday for a press and curl.... Now, Y'all know I...

Posted by Teves Lee on Wednesday, December 9, 2015

The salon owner later realized that the haircut came at the right time.

"While we were sitting there, she got a phone call that said she had gotten a job interview," Lee said. "I said, 'Well, that's a sign. That's a sign. The job interview was the very next day."

Although Lee doesn't know if the woman got the job, she said she doesn't regret cutting the woman's hair because the homeless "are kind of forgotten about sometimes." She even shared the story on Facebook, and the small holiday miracle went viral.

"Giving a haircut, it's what I do. It makes people feel people and look better about themselves," Lee said. "And it doesn't take that long. Everybody deserves to feel good about themselves at some point in time."