Barbers Bring Grooming Therapy to Kenya’s Mathari Hospital

Kenya’s Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital in Nairobi has begun a weekly grooming program for male inpatients. Visiting barbers set up a temporary station where patients rotate for haircuts and beard trims. The service, launched during Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, is presented as a non-pharmacological complement to medication and psychotherapy.

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The 2015 Kenyan Mental Health Policy estimates that 25 % of outpatients and 40 % of inpatients in health facilities have mental-health conditions, with depression, anxiety and substance-use disorders especially common among men. Limited national data make interventions like grooming especially valuable.

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The initiative is coordinated by Sheila Lugaliki, founder of the community-based group Uniquely Gifted, whose own psychiatric-ward experience inspired the monthly service. Nursing officer Francis Kabugua urges men to discuss mental-health issues openly, while psychiatric nurse Titus Enko stresses that personal grooming signals a patient’s mental state.

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Staff report that grooming restores dignity, boosts confidence and provides a visible cue of self-care. Enko notes that neglect of hygiene often accompanies worsening symptoms, while Lugaliki observes that a patient’s appearance can mask internal distress, making regular haircuts a reminder of personal value.

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Kabugua highlighted that depressive disorders can lead to social withdrawal and an inability to support one’s family. Enko warned that treatment plans often overlook grooming despite its diagnostic value. Lugaliki stressed that months without grooming can conceal a patient’s condition, prompting the haircut program.

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A patient summed up the experience in a single word, describing the session as making him feel “alive.”

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• “Among the things that you may see a person with depressive disorders is segregating themselves or separating themselves from the members of the family. They start also not providing for the family,” — Francis Kabugua, Nursing Officer, Mathari Hospital

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• “You find someone has been admitted for six months and yet no one has groomed their hair. How they look really does not reflect how they are feeling,” — Sheila Lugaliki, Founder, Uniquely Gifted

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• “More often we only think about medication, psychotherapy, and we tend to overlook the other part, which is the personal grooming. Many times, someone neglects themselves and they start not taking a shower or they don’t dress well. And personal grooming is an indication that someone is either doing good or they’re not doing okay,” — Titus Enko, Psychiatric Nurse, Mathari Hospital

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• “He said he felt “alive.” — Patient, Mathari Hospital

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