Ibrahim Musa was four years old when his family immigrated to Canada from Iraq, and he can remember that life as a newcomer wasn't easy.

There wasn't always money in the family budget for small luxuries like getting a haircut.

So Musa, now 18, started a charitable organization called Cuts for Kids in the spring.

With help from his friends and Ottawa's Hair Fellas Barbershop, Musa has been giving out dozens of free haircuts to Syrian refugees and kids from low-income families.

Musa got the idea after a friend who worked at a Tim Hortons summer camp told him about a boy who was always trying to comb the hair out of his face. Hearing that story brought back memories of his own childhood, when he tried to cut his own hair because his family couldn't afford to send him to a barber.

'I'm in a position now to give back'

"I went to the mirror with my teddy bear, I cut his hair, I cut my hair," Musa recalled. "... Terrible results. It was a disaster.

"And I thought, well, I'm in a position now to give back, so why not start something fresh, something unique? ... And I teamed up with Hair Fellas Barbershop ... and we got to work."

Carlos Noja, who owns the barbershop, says it's been rewarding work.

"We love to see the kids smile after the haircut," he said.