A barber has shared powerful photos of a woman who came to his shop looking for a fresh start, after she said she survived horrific domestic abuse at the hands of her violent partner.
Barber Andy Mendoza took to Instagram last week to share photos of Chelsea Damboise, 21, after she visited her shop in Bristol, Connecticut.
Damboise came in with a large part of her long, purple hair shaved off, bruises on her face, and a bloodshot eye with a red ring around its iris.
Images: Barber Andy Mendoza shared photos of Chelsea Damboise, 21, after she visited her shop in Bristol, Connecticut and said her boyfriend had violently attacked her
Change: Damboise told authorities her boyfriend had cut off some of her purple hair during the attack; Mendoza said she walked into his shop determined to shave it all off (pictured)
When Mendoza asked about Damboise’s wounds, he asked jokingly, not knowing anything about her, if she had gotten in a fight.
Damboise, according to Mendoza, told the barber her boyfriend had tried to kill her, as Mendoza told the Republican-American.
‘Oh great, Andy,’ Mendoza thought to himself. ‘You and your big mouth.’
But he and Damboise ended up sharing an important conversation, and Mendoza gave her the haircut she wanted for a fresh start after the traumatizing events.
On the night of December 16, Truskauskas ‘started throwing [Damboise] around the apartment like a rag doll’, Damboise said according to an application for an arrest warrant.
She went on to say that her boyfriend had punched her in the face, tried to break her fingers and wrist, shoved paper towels as well as his own fingers down her throat, and at one point choked her so hard she thought she would become unconscious, the Republican-American also reported.
Truskauskas, according to Damboise, also held a kitchen knife against her neck, causing her to fear for her life, and pushed her down the stairs.
The boyfriend also pinned his partner on the bed and cut off some of her hair, Damboise said, adding that Truskauskas had told her she couldn’t ‘be a whore if she didn’t have nice hair’.
Damboise’s mother told the police she could barely recognize her daughter’s face after the attack.
Truskauskas was charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, second-degree threatening, second-degree strangulation, violation of a protective order, possession of less that four ounces of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and first-degree kidnapping, the newspaper wrote.
New start: The barber was reluctant to give Damboise such a drastic haircut at first, but she made it clear she was ready for a change
Mendoza took to Instagram last week to say Damboise had visited his barbershop earlier in the day.
Case: Michael Truskauskas (pictured in a mugshot) is accused of second-degree assault among other charges
He posted two photos of the woman with her partly shaved head, and two images of her donning a fully shaved skull with a personalized design on the left side.
The barber, who said his mother is also a survivor of domestic abuse, wrote that Damboise had given him permission to share her photos and wanted everyone to know she is ‘happy to be alive’.
Damboise walked into the salon telling Mendoza she wanted to go for a fully shaved look, but the barber initially suggested she try to regrow some of her hair, in order to avoid taking a drastic step.
‘I told her I didn’t want to do something “dramatic on top of traumatic” but she didn’t want anything to do with wigs,’ Mendoza told Metro. ‘She said she wanted a new start and wanted to embrace the length of her hair (that was remaining).’
Mendoza ended up giving Damboise the short haircut she wanted.
‘The actual cutting of her hair was very tense for everyone,’ Mendoza told Metro.’The few barbers that remained were watching in silence, you could hear a pin drop.’
Damboise and Mendoza ended up connecting, with him telling her about his love of art while she told him how much she loves reptiles. In the end, Damboise smiled when she looked up and saw herself with her new haircut.
Mendoza urged other people to look out for victims of domestic abuse.
‘No woman ever deserves this! My mother was a victim of abuse, and I remember it vividly! SPEAK UP AND TELL SOMEONE!’ he wrote, adding: ‘Guys PLEASE if you or someone you know is suffering from domestic abuse do not hesitate to contact someone for help.’