PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — A Bay area hairstylist is using her talent of doing hair and her mental health degree to help people in the most vulnerable communities. 

The loud sounds of a blow dryer, or the creaking noise of a salon chair being raised up to just the right height are therapeutic for stylists like Talia Davis, the owner of ToTheTee Styles & Co.

Her recent training now has her listening for something a little different with her clients.

“I love that I found a program called PsychoHairapy because it helps hairstylists understand the mental health part,” she said.

Davis also just got her master’s degree in forensic psychology. She’s focusing on how haircare impacts vulnerable communities like foster children and people in domestic violence shelters.

“A lot of the times some of the trauma they go through, the stylist is the first person to know what they’re going through; we can talk to their parents about it or their caregivers about it because they feel comfortable with us,” Davis said. “They spend a lot of time with us in the chair.”

It gives a new meaning to haircare, and she’s hoping to offer more people.

“I started a fundraiser," Davis said. "I was able to raise $3,500 so that I could start a hair trailer, that way I could be mobile and not only offer it for myself but have other stylists be able to rent out that trailer and go to group homes to serve the community."

She’s still a long way away from her $60,000 goal that would help buy and renovate that mobile trailer. But she said the cost of not doing this project far outweighs that price tag.

“I hear the statistics of how heavy sex trafficking is, how many kids there are in foster care that don’t have placement, that don’t have anywhere to go, and why not have a safe haven for them?” she said.

It’s an environment she’s creating every day for all of her clients.

“Me knowing that I’ve changed some part of the community in some way. It’s not about the money. It’s about impacting the world to me,” Davis said.