A homeless man from Brazil whose traces disappeared for more than ten years  has been reunited with his family after a photo of his recent haircut went viral. 

The man named João Coelho Guimarães who had been estranged from his family for more than a decade and his mother as well as sister thought their loved one was dead. 

However, this week, João Coelho was reunited with his mother and sister after they recognised him from a social media post that was went into viral after the man's haircut. 

Guimarães has spent the last decade on the streets, collecting cans to survive and recently, a businessman named Alessandro Lobo who owns a men’s fashion store and barber service, cut Coelho's hair and took a photo of him which then posted on social media. 

The post, showing two photos of him before and after the hair, went viral on social media, the post was also seen by his family. Then his mother and sister recognised him and travelled to meet him on December 17.

‘They saw the photo and contacted me and, since he doesn’t have a phone or a fixed address, tomorrow we will go through the neighborhood to try to find him,’ the businessman said.

‘It is Christmas time and the intention was to show that with little we can change someone’s life. That we have to do good without looking at who. We did not imagine that it would have this repercussion,’ he added.