Shirley Raines On Founding Beauty 2 The Streetz

After shedding the whole lot, Shirley Raines began a now-acclaimed non-profit group dedicated to offering important companies to homeless populations.

Shirley Raines — founding father of Beauty 2 The Streetz, a non-profit group that gives meals, clothes, magnificence and grooming gadgets and hair and make-up companies to homeless folks in Los Angeles — refers to members of the homeless communities she serves as kings and queens. It’s a reference to the films she watched rising up, during which overthrown royals would get locked up in dungeons. “The king could be unshaven and unwashed, however when his topics ultimately discovered him, they’d nonetheless bow to him,” she says. These motion pictures taught Raines a lesson she would carry along with her all through her life: “They will’t take away your standing simply since you lose your construction.” And Raines is aware of first-hand what it feels prefer to lose the whole lot.

On the age of 10, she grew to become concerned with gangs in her hometown of Compton. And when she was in her early 20s, whereas homeless and pregnant, her son Demetrius tragically handed away simply days earlier than his third birthday. After his passing, she “grew to become a member of the strolling useless,” Raines says. “I couldn’t face myself within the mirror.” She began sporting make-up to masks her ache. “If I drew my eyebrows excessive sufficient, no person might inform I used to be frowning,” she says. “If my eyes had been pink from making use of eyeliner, nobody would know I’d truly been crying.” She suffered for years with nervousness and panic assaults; lastly, Raines’s twin sister pulled her apart and informed her that her son wouldn’t have wished her to dwell like this.

It was the motivation Raines wanted to make a change. She was impressed to affix a volunteer group along with her native church, the place she helped put collectively luggage of meals for the homeless. Whereas she was handing out meals, girls would praise Raines’s make-up. “I’d reply: ‘You need me to do your hair and make-up? As a result of I can; I’m a ‘hood stylist,’” she laughs. Other than understanding that magnificence practices can present a confidence increase, Raines additionally is aware of the facility of caring, light contact. “Ladies on the streets are touched violently and with out consent each day,” she says. “Think about somebody saying to them ‘Let me wash your hair.’” Certainly, Magnificence 2 The Streetz’s web site reads “The dearth of a house doesn’t imply an absence of humanity.”

So in 2015, Raines loaded up on the mini mascaras she’d purchased along with her Sephora Magnificence Insider Rewards, together with dollar-store lashes and lash glue, and started travelling to L.A.’s Skid Row weekly at hand them out. As soon as she’d exhausted all her money, rewards and free samples, she turned to her social media followers (5,000 on the time) to ask for donations. They delivered — and by no means stopped. Immediately, Magnificence 2 The Streetz has over six million followers between Instagram and TikTok, and types like Thrive Causemetics, Unilever, Haus Labs and Fenty Magnificence have all donated to the non-profit. In 2021, Raines was named CNN’s Hero of the Yr.

“Magnificence might be exterior, but it surely may also be an inner type of CPR.”

Raines nonetheless has her critics, although. She has been known as a “clout chaser” for sharing her good deeds on-line and accused of recording the homeless with out their consent. “In all places I am going, I inform the group what I’m doing,” she clarifies. “In the event that they don’t wish to be filmed, they don’t need to be.” Finally, she isn’t fazed by detractors. “I do know my coronary heart,” she says. Raines additionally fields fixed questions on why the unhoused group wants magnificence merchandise in any respect. “Once you take a bathe and wash your hair, you’re feeling higher,” she says. “There are husbands and wives sleeping in tents collectively. We offer cleaning soap and hair merchandise to allow them to odor good. They don’t need to appear like what they’ve been by way of.”

Raines sees her former self within the unhoused populations she serves. “They’re asking to see a unique model of themselves — I did that, too,” she says. “I understand how empowering magnificence is. If hair and make-up can get somebody to a spot the place they respect themselves and really feel dignified, then let me give them that. Magnificence might be exterior, but it surely may also be an inner type of CPR.”

Forward, the tried-and-true magnificence necessities Shirley Raines swears by.

Fenty Magnificence Professional Filt’r Instantaneous Retouch Primer

“I like the feel and high quality. It’s like a primer and moisturizer multi functional.”

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Juvia’s Place The Competition Palette

“When girls of color make eyeshadow palettes, they up the ante with pigmentation. They get that we want a little bit extra in our blues and purples.”

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Black Lady Sunscreen SPF 30

“I prefer to assist Black-owned companies. And all of us have to put on sunscreen.”

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Moist N Wild Coloration Icon Forehead Pencil

“You don’t have to spend so much on make-up to make it look proper. It’s all about discovering your color match.”

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Versace Dylan Purple Eau de Parfum

“I prefer to odor candy. You’ve received to go away a lingering scent; my mama taught me that.”

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This text first appeared in FASHION’s March 2024 difficulty. Find out more here.

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