Demetrius Raines, Raines’ 2-year-old son, died from unintentional poisoning in 1990 while visiting his grandmother. Shirley Raines suffered great pain, mentally, physically, and emotionally. As a result, she struggled for many years trying to find her purpose in life. Raines’ twin sister urged her to find a purpose so she joined a church group on a feeding trip in 2017, that’s when she found a way out of her anguish.
Skid Row, downtown Los Angeles contains one of the largest stable populations of homeless people in the United States and has been known for its condensed homeless population since at least the 1930s.
When Raines arrived on ‘Skid Row for the first time “Oh, this is where all the broken people are?
Oh, I’ve been looking for y’all all my life,” she said. “I never wanted to leave. It’s a place where people have amazing hearts, but nobody can see it because they can’t see the forest for the trees.”
She established Beauty 2 the Streetz and it has been a mainstay on Skid Row for a number of years, offering food, clothing, and hair and makeup treatments to thousands of people. A portion of Skid Row is transformed into an outdoor beauty salon each week by Raines and her group of volunteers. Whether it takes a haircut, a facial, a substantial lunch, or a hug, her mission is to make the homeless feel human.
When Beauty 2 the Streetz first started, it was only Raines and her kids volunteering to provide food, drinks, hygiene kits, and cosmetics. All by herself, Raines would color people’s hair and apply cosmetics. But when she began streaming the events live and uploading photos on Instagram, Beauty 2 the Streetz quickly gained greater notoriety. Licensed barbers, cosmetic artists, hair stylists, and even large makeup corporations wrote to Raines to offer their assistance.
By the year 2019, Raines had officially established Beauty 2 the Streetz as a non-profit organization, with roughly a dozen volunteers donating their time and energy to make Skid Row’s residents feel attractive.
