Punit Dhesi believes a simple haircut can be a powerful act of service.
Dhesi is the mind behind Serve Society, a nonprofit, fully mobile barber shop, operated by Dhesi and his collective of volunteer barbers and stylists.
Punit Dhesi, right, founder of Serve Society, calls out the name of the next person as Cynthia Cottrill waits her turn for a haircut at Old Pueblo Community Services - Re-entry Recovery Community at 4434 E. Bellevue St. Serve Society is a collective of barbers and stylists who provide free haircuts to those in recovery programs. Dhesi, after overcoming his own substance abuse issues, became a barber and an addiction counselor. He saw how a simple haircut could help uplift people and provide a space for support. Dhesi partners with organizations that are offering services to those in need.
Serve Society partners with community organizations to give back and serve those who need it most by providing free haircuts to individuals in addiction recovery, those experiencing homelessness, those in low-income families, individuals reentering society, veterans, and other vulnerable populations in Tucson.
“For clients themselves, it does a few things, right? On the base level, you're boosting self esteem, confidence, restoring dignity. It's an opportunity to see themselves in a different way,” Dhesi said. “A lot of times, it's just about feeling seen and feeling heard, and in some cases it's workforce readiness.”
With his mobile set-up, Dhesi wants to provide the full barber shop experience and all the luxury that comes with it. The mobile unit comes equipped with three workstations and comfortable barber chairs, a shampoo bowl, restroom, tools and supplies provided by Dhesi, and a convertible deck.
“I wanted to create a real, dignifying experience,” Dhesi said. “It's really nice, it's nicer than some barbershops.”
He said his commitment to helping others was sparked by his personal recovery journey.
“I was a filmmaker most of my life. I found pretty early success in that, and by the time I was 21, I had my first music video on MTV,” Dhesi said. “But at the same time, I was kind of struggling with my own substance abuse issues.”
He decided to make a change in his own life after losing his father in 2019, and said he developed his passion for barbering during his stay at an intensive outpatient program in San Diego.
Cynthia Cottrill watches as Aidan Stover, a volunteer stylist for Serve Society, performs touch ups on her hair at Old Pueblo Community Services - Re-entry Recovery Community. Stover has been volunteering with Serve Society since July, and said she values the opportunity to use her skills to help people who need it most.
“I always had this affinity with the barbershop culture, and it felt like a way to connect with people. I was already making one drastic life change, and I was like, ‘I kind of want to change everything.’”
As part of his program, he began barber school, and very quickly found his purpose in barbering — and helping others on their own recovery journeys.
“It started to be a positive association attached to my recovery,” Dhesi said. “I was doing these haircuts for these guys, and it was an act of service, but it was also this trade. Because in the beginning, they knew that I was practicing, so they were being of service by letting me practice my craft. There was this mutual exchange. All the while, we were talking about recovery in the chair and connecting all these different ways.”
Dhesi moved to Tucson in 2024, after going back to school for addiction counseling and completing his practicum hours in San Diego. He was searching for a way to use his education and experiences to serve the community.
“I would try to find these opportunities where I can go cut hair, like volunteer for places with people in recovery, and I kept hitting these roadblocks,” he said. “Everybody wanted the service, but there weren't enough, places to put it or support it to make it a real thing.”
The biggest roadblocks, Dhesi said, were space availability, safety, sanitation and insurance issues. That was when the idea of Serve Society began.
Dhesi’s solution was to create his own mobile space, which could be fully licensed as a barber shop, and fully insured. That way, he could offer haircuts anywhere they’re needed.
Dougert Case, lower right, receives a haircut with others at Old Pueblo Community Services - Re-entry Recovery Community. With its mobile set-up, the nonprofit Serve Society wants to provide the full barber shop experience and all the luxury that comes with it.
“I realized that the best business model for this would be some type of nonprofit organization, but I still couldn't get past the fact that it would just be me. I just created a box for myself where this whole organization depends on me being a counselor, me being in recovery, and me being a barber. I was like, ‘that's too small,’” Dhesi said. “I was like, I bet, if I'm passionate about people in early recovery, I bet there's other licensed professionals that are passionate about other populations.”
David Grunden sits for a haircut provided by Punit Dhesi, founder of Serve Society. “I wanted to create a real, dignifying experience,” Dhesi said.
As it turns out, he was right, and Dhesi now has 20 registered volunteer cosmetologists and barbers, including Aidan Stover and Riana Preciado.
Stover has been volunteering with Serve Society since July, and said she values the opportunity to utilize her skills to help people who need it most.
“I enjoy doing hair, so I may as well do it as much as I can, and help people out. I think that we both kind of benefit from it, you know?” Stover said. “I love that I cut literally any type of person's hair. We do, men, women, curly hair, straight hair. We get a wide variety of people.”
Preciado has been working as a barber for more than 10 years, and shared similar sentiments.
She said the best part of working with Serve Society is “giving back to the community, being a blessing to others.”
The magic of barbering, and the magic of Serve Society as Dhesi describes it, is that the transformation really happens on both sides of the chair.
Kristen Crane, a resident of Old Pueblo Community Services' Re-entry Recovery Community, was one of the haircut recipients at Serve Society’s event on Sept. 8. She said it had been years since she’d had a haircut.
“I shaved my head when I relapsed in 2023, but before that, I always just cut my own hair,” Crane said. “It's been a long time since I've gone and gotten my hair cut.”
Aidan Stover, left, a volunteer stylist, shares a laugh with Kristen Crane at Old Pueblo Community Services - Re-entry Recovery Community. Crane was very pleased with her new style, and it was something of a fresh start for her. “I love it, it looks so cool, I'm really excited,” she said. “A new me.”
Crane said the service Dhesi and his volunteers provide meant a lot to her.
“I've been wanting to do something with my hair, and I just don't have the means right now. So I'm very appreciative that they came out today,” she said.
Crane was also very pleased with her new style, and it was something of a fresh start for her.
“I love it, it looks so cool, I'm really excited,” she said. “A new me.”
Dario Dorame is another of the housing complex residents and was a repeat client of Serve Society. He said the free haircuts are a huge blessing.
The new look also gave him new confidence.
“I'm hot. I’m feeling good,” Dorame said. “I’m hoping it increases my opportunities for employment.”
Dougert Case, right, shakes the hand of Punit Dhesi, after his haircut at Old Pueblo Community Services - Re-entry Recovery Community. The transformation provided by the mobile barbershop's services happens on both sides of the chair, the stylists say.
Along with Old Pueblo Community Service, Serve Society also partners with several other Tucson organizations that are already providing valuable community resources, including Gospel Rescue Mission and the Pimavera Foundation.
“Our partnerships are growing,” Dhesi said. “I'm passionate about people, especially men, in early recovery. But we go to places that support adults with intellectual developmental disabilities, we're going to low barrier shelters, going to very different programs.”
Dhesi said he hopes Serve Society can continue to expand its reach in the community, increasing outreach services, and connecting people with the resources they need.
“I wanted to create something where we can follow the thread wherever the community wants to take it,” Dhesi said. “Like mobile showers, and providing more immediate services that are kind of hooks to get people motivated to connect to further resources to get help.”
Another future avenue Dhesi has considered is workforce development.
“We could do apprenticeship programs and scholarships,” Dhesi said. “A lot of guys and girls that get in our chair, like, ‘oh, I always wanted to be a barber,’ or they come out of prison, they've been cutting hair this whole time, and if we could give them a pathway to education, to get a job placement, that'd be great. That'd be amazing.”
“I feel like I've planted a seed and now it should grow wherever it can."
