What happens when you’re unemployed and you can’t afford a good haircut, but you have a job interview coming up? In some places, salon owners are willing to help.

Georgetown’s upscale O Salon, for one, saw a need in the community and filled it last week by sending an email to customers informing them about a free haircut special on December 5th for anyone unemployed. Within two hours, their appointment book was full.

Salon owner Guillaume Choquet heard a news story about other salons doing the same thing and thought it was a great idea. Salons in Michigan and New York have also reportedly followed this example.

“You go to apply for a job, you need to look good,” Choquet said. “And this area more than anywhere you need to look very good.”

Still, he was surprised at the response. He didn’t expect the reservation spots to fill up so fast, and he didn’t expect to get new customers out of the deal. In reality, only two people who made appointments were already clients of the salon.

Choquet is still getting calls and is trying to figure out if he can extend the special offering. He said it’s possible he could make it something the salon does once a month.

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