TWO Wirral barbers are hoping to tackle the stigma of homelessness by using their trade to offer free haircuts to people living on the streets.

Known as the ‘Barber Chop’ Josh Hall and Stephen McGuinness met during training at Voodoo, Liverpool and have come together to tackle homelessness in the borough.

By offering free haircuts in their spare time they hope that they will give someone the chance to get a job or boost their self-confidence and self-worth.

Josh from Meols said: “It all started off with Ste pitching this idea to us about giving back to the community.

“Me and Stephen went out to the Lauries centre and met up with the Chamber of Commerce so we could find out what we wanted to do, he thought it was a great idea and gave us his backing.

“Then we went to the YMCA and got the chief executive Nigel Hughes on board and he was more than happy to let us set up shop and work there.

“We’ve been doing Monday’s at the YMCA in Whetstone Lane, Birkenhead and then Wednesday’s at a foodbank down the road.

“We just want to raise awareness for the problem and hope to offer free gifts to each client”

“Our initial idea was to go out on the street and do this but none of us had the equipment to do that remotely.

“If anyone could donate to help tackle the problem it’d be a great help. This is something that often gets overlooked and people don’t know their stories.

“You know in our job we talk to clients while they’re in the chair and we’ve heard some really upsetting stories about people’s lives and you kind of understand why they are where they are.

“Any donations would give so much to the homeless, they can get food, a roof over their head and even a job.”

For more information visit www.gofundme.com/barbersagainsthomelessness or www.facebook.com/chopshopwirral