Salon trains sex trafficking survivors in Cambodia

March 27, 2015
A Shoreline salon owner now has employees cutting hair in Cambodia, but it's not for their profit. It's to change lives.
The idea started with one of Matthew Fairfax's clients.
"I said, 'No. I'm not going to Cambodia. We have enough work to do here,'" Fairfax remembered.
It took two hours for him to change his mind. Fairfax was shocked to learn that girls as young as 6 are trafficked for sex in Cambodia. Even if they're rescued, once they get older jobs are scarce.
"It creates an opportunity for the beauty industry to get behind," Fairfax said.
Beauty for these women brought violence in their pasts. Now, Fairfax is reclaiming beauty for their future. He founded Justice and Soul, an organization that created a cosmetology school in Cambodia where trafficking survivors can learn for free.
"I think that's really important for people who have survived trauma," Amber Lemaster said.
Lemaster is one of the stylists who volunteers with Justice and Soul. She works in Shoreline but travels to Cambodia to train the students.
"I [We're] able to teach them the vocational skills and help them with transitioning into the real world," Fairfax said.
Fairfax also opened a high end salon with American pricing, so the women will be self-supporting. Many salons charge a couple bucks for hair cuts, but Fairfax noticed that a growing population of wealthy Cambodians would travel long distances to pay big money for their hair.
He figured, why not have them pay big money closer to home?
"$38 for a haircut. $70 for a color. $118 for a foil," he explained.
Students receive two years of training from volunteer staff. The first class of women just finished their first level of study.
"You can't help but fall in love with them," Lemaster said. "They're amazing."
It's an issue that's personal and not just because of Cambodia, but because their Fairfax's salon is on Aurora Avenue, known for the sex trade in Seattle.
"Twelve,13, 14-year-old girls are being trafficked in our own neighborhood," Fairfax said.
Even though this dream started a world away, it's a dream they hope to continue someday with a school and salon for survivors near their own front door.
"A sense of, 'I belong here and I have rights,'" Fairfax said.
Justice and Soul is always looking for volunteer stylists willing to commit 4 weeks of time to teaching in the school.