On The Road With Zuma: WNDRLND and WINK

July 2nd, 2016

Last week we had a camper pull up in the spot next to ours. Her name is Donna and she is a TRIP.

Donna (when she is behaving and not breaking down and being troublesome) has been the hostess for a group of professional, talented hair stylists from Atlanta, Georgia since April of this year. She deserves her own blog, if she lives long enough. She kakked out several times on the trip but they always managed to get her up and running. One night she broke down on the crew and they had to sleep on the side of the highway with tractor trailers whizzing by and nearly blowing Donna and her family out of her sneakers and off the road. But they got through it, together. Donna clung to the pavement and eventually they were rescued. All of 'em.

(Note the cool graphics and mannequin head with a one-long-horned adornment). These folks are all about fun and sharing health and happiness.

WNDRLND went on the road in April of this year, traveling around the country, volunteering their time and talents to hold educational gatherings to teach fellow artistic hairstylists, update skills AND wherever they go they organize a FREE hair cutting pop up event for the homeless. Iiiii know! Amazing people.

They visited Brooklyn, NY, Chicago, IL, Pensacola, FL, Atlanta, GA, Birmingham, AL, Philadelphia, PA and right here in Asheville, NC. How could we be so fortunate to have them park next to us?!

While visiting here, we immediately became friends with them and admirers of their cause, because they are awesome and the whole world should think and do as they do. One of the local (high end fabulous) hair salons hosted their local event here: WINK in nearby Biltmore Village.

The WNDRLND crew invited us to watch them in action so we hopped in the car and zoomed over to WINK. The salon was bustling with great energy and the owners and staff welcomed us and our big ole dawg with open arms.

This is Gilda Santiago, co-owner of WINK (they hosted the event) and the manager, Sarah Onanian Keith (sorry we missed meeting the other co-owner, Christine DiBenedetto):

While speaking with Sarah, she told me that the homeless hair cutting project is really near and dear to their hearts at WINK and they jumped in to host the WNDRLND crew. WINK also operates a program, HUMBLE HAIRDRESSERS. This group of hair stylists also offer free haircuts to the homeless in Asheville, every other Wednesday. On a sign-up basis, hair stylists from WINK and other Asheville salons groom 30 - 37 people per day at this event, they make them feel fresh and revitalized.

I borrowed this pic from the Humble Hairdressers FB page (thank you, Jordan, a picture is worth a thousand words):

Sarah said that the most important part is that the homeless experience the gift of TOUCH, a basic human need that is lacking in their lives. As she was describing this, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. It's so true. Too frequently, people tend to snub the homeless, especially if they are unkempt. Having a fresh haircut helps them feel nice in so many ways. If only everyone would think and act like the WNDRLND and HUMBLE HAIRDRESSERS people do. GOOD KARMA. What goes around comes around.

For more on these exceptional people and their missions, see THE WNDRLND, WINK and HUMBLE HAIRSTYLISTS on Facebook. Give 'em a LIKE! Thank you! They are the true spirit of Community: gracious, accepting, non-judgmental and caring.
These are a few scenes from the WINK salon with the volunteer models:

The WNDRLND group are really talented and humble people; all proceeds raised go directly to shelters. When we walked into WINK, we were a bit blown away. We'd planned to take turns checking it out, one of us loitering outside with Zuma. But WINK invited us all in. They had people in chairs and other people popping round to volunteer as models and they cut and braided, colored and styled hair and made everyone feel Ab Fab. This is Elliott, the professional photog for WNDRLND:

Several local stylists, including the amazing staff at WINK took part as the WNDRLND group exhibited updated ways to cut and style, along with stylists from near and far who also volunteered instruction.

The goal is to work with fellow hair artists, inspire and educate each other, share the love. We left there feeling a whole new appreciation for the incredible talent hair stylists possess to make us feel good.