The before-and-after photos telling a powerful story of a woman's fight with depression.

Some hairdressers see their day job as informal counsellors of their community.

One American hairdresser spent eight hours with a customer who was suffering from depression and the outward results were amazing.

Kate Langman first noticed her client browsing products in her salon in Wisconsin.

After striking up a conversation, Langman learned that the woman suffered from “a very deep depression”.

“She couldn’t get out of her bed for six months,” Langman explained in a Facebook post.

“Which meant she didn’t wash her hair or brush it. She kept pulling it back into this bun which after that length of time turned into a huge dread lock. The bun was so matted that it felt like she literally had rock on the back of her head.”

Langman offered to help her with her giant matted knot and booked an appointment.

After two no-shows the hairdresser thought the woman may never return.

"It actually, kind of, broke my heart. I wanted to help her so much," she said.

Eventually the woman came in again and Langman started working her magic.

"I spent eight and a half hours with this girl. Four and a half hours of combing, and three hours colouring and half an hour for the cut. All of this time, I'm just telling myself to keep going...that this is going to be all so worth it," she said.

"By the end of this service, I could see the sparkle in her eyes and I could see her cheeks get rosy pink from the excitement of not only being able to run her fingers through her hair again, but she felt herself again. I changed someone's life today... and I'll never ever forget it."

Langman's post has been shared thousands of times.

"I want her to know how great, wonderful, kind, loving, and how strong of a person she is," she said.

"And not only those things, but how beautiful she is...she deserves nothing but happiness... and I'm so thankful and so grateful I got to help with her first step."

If you or a loved one is suffering from depression, Mamamia urges you to contact Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. 

Listen:The seven stages of grief.