A tattoo that reads, "Pray, Love, Forgive" is tattooed just above Cesar Pulido's forehead. Pulido is a barber that volunteers at Mutual Aid Monday dinners, giving out free haircuts to unhoused community members. His gold-plated teeth match the gold-colored clippers that he uses to cut hair on Denver's Civic Center Park.
"I'm making people feel better. I love that," Pulido said. "They could be going through the worst time in their life. They get a haircut and walk out of here feeling great, you feel me? That's the biggest thing for me."
This October, Pulido will reach a big moment for himself: three years of sobriety.
"I used to be big on cocaine and Xanax. That was my big thing. Xanax to go to sleep, cocaine to stay up," Pulido said. "My wife was taking care of the kids all day. So when I got home I felt like I needed to help."
Pulido was raised by his father and grandmother in south central Los Angeles. At the age of 15, he moved to Florida to live with his mother shortly after his father was sent to prison.
"I was already deep in south central LA, so it's like I brought everything I knew. Instead of what my mom wanted for us, a better life, I just chose to do dumb shit. Drinking, hanging out, skipping, gangs, all that stuff."
As an adolescent, drugs, underage drinking and instances of breaking and entering landed Pulido on house arrest.
"My officer one day was like, yo, 'You need to do something with yourself or I'mma send you back to jail,'" Pulido said. "I was already lining people up, saving some money so I could chip in, smoke a blunt. I'm cutting out the house, right in the neighborhood. I went to barber school and right about when I was finishing up, I got a case and they ended up sending me to prison."
Now 19, Pulido says he wasn't allowed to cut hair in prison because of his gang affiliation. He also was smoking K2, a synthetic weed that doesn't show up on traditional drugs tests that screen for marijuana.
"I was doing K2 and smoking cigarettes in there 'cause if we pissed dirty, we'd get 60 days in the box," Pulido said. "So once I'm getting out, I kind of still had a habit."
Pulido ended up serving five years of a six-year sentence. Once he got out, an old friend had just opened up a barbershop and invited him to work for him.
"But you know, we all hanging out and doing crazy stuff again and eventually doing drugs," Pulido said.
He ended up back in jail on his 30th birthday.
"I went like super nuts for my 30th and ended up in a mental hospital," Pulido said. "My wife was like if you don't stay there more than the little time you're supposed to you're not gonna be able to be with your kids. So I got the help. I stayed there for like a week. That's when I really put my all into cutting hair."
Looking to get away from the wrong crowds, Pulido moved to Denver a little less than a year ago with his family.
"By the grace of God, we had a mutual friend that connected me with Cesar," said Derick Cruz, owner of Game 7 Barbershop, where Pulido works. "He landed at the shop, came in at the perfect time. We had a booth that was open and it just played out perfectly. He's brought a whole other mentality that's helped us grow the shop and network. It's great."
In the last six months, Pulido has set up his own LLC, moved into an apartment in the Washington Park neighborhood and voted for the first time with the help of State Representative and former mayoral candidate Leslie Herod at Hiawatha Davis Jr. Recreation Center on Election Day.
"He didn't think, having a felony, that he could vote," said Brittany Katalenas, founder of Denver-based company B-Konnected. "It's a profound impact in our city just by enabling someone to not just find a job, but Cesar became an LLC, a business owner. That's huge. And now he's volunteering, he's doing his thing, he's giving back."
Katalenas first met Pulido in October 2022. Her company, B-Konnected, works to address why people lose housing and create housing security for both renters and property owners. Pulido credits Katalenas for connecting him with resources across the city.
"She's been connecting me to everybody. She sent me the Mutual Aid and said, 'Look, they need a barber,'" Pulido said. "I got in contact with them. I told them I was bringing a chair, but they didn't realize I was bringing an actual barber chair. So when I brought that they kind of freaked."
"That's the beauty of his chair," Katalenas said. "That chair starts a conversation and instantly makes someone feel beautiful. Housing and self-care are so interconnected."
Pulido said he likes being out there as a "testimony" for those going through their own tough times and loves being part of the Mutual Aid Monday community.
"I'm here to do what I do, I love this man," Pulido said. "I feel like I'm in a position where I'm not doing too good either, but you know, I want to give back with something I can. I'm just a barber trying to spread some love and help people out."
He hopes that other barbers will come out and donate their time at events like Mutual Aid Mondays.
"Bringing everybody closer together. Especially like people in high places, people in low places, bring 'em together, help each other out somehow. I want everybody to be able to call somebody when they need something."
