A man shaving the video of the train is Anthony Torres, a homeless man from New Jersey

After the video of a passenger shaving his face in a train became viral, it was revealed that the man just wanted to look "presentable" after leaving a shelter for homeless.

In the footage recorded on Thursday night on a New Jersey Transit train, Anthony Torres can be seen on his seat, regularly swaying his foamy face and throwing razor shaving cream on the ground.

The video contained 2.4 million Twitter views on Monday afternoon. Another video showed a shaved Torres with a beer in his hand.

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Self-grooming gained its share of negative comments on the Internet, with insults like "slob", "animal" and "naughty". Others have eulogized with humor of his firm hand with a razor. Some people cautioned against the judgment and suggested that people did not know the whole story.

The truth, said Torres, is that the video captured him at a vulnerable moment. He was homeless and was staying in a shelter in New York when he asked for help from his family. One brother gave him money for a train ticket, which he used to reach another brother in southern New Jersey.

Torres took the train from the northeast corridor of the Pennsylvania train station to Manhattan around 7pm. Thursday, direction Trenton, New Jersey.

He said that he had left the shelter before he could shower and wash and wanted to look "presentable".

"I do not want to say that I am homeless, inform everyone. That's why I was shaving.

Torres had a difficult life, said his 57-year-old brother Thomas Torres, whose home in Atco, New Jersey, was where the young Torres found himself after the train ride and a trip in bus.

They grew up poor with four other brothers, raised on a farm in Hammonton, New Jersey, about 35 miles from Philadelphia.

Anthony Torres said he was working on various positions including that of security guard and construction. He moved wherever the job was, like in Florida, where his adult son lives. He said he spent time in motels or sleeping in bus depots.

Health problems have also been a problem, Torres claiming to have suffered two strokes in the past two years.

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But Thomas Torres said that even while growing up, his brother would make short-sighted decisions with money, or would not think about the impact of his actions, like shaving in public in a train compartment.

"When he did what he did, for him, it was normal," said Thomas Torres. "He's not the kind of person who does it because of the frustration or because he wants attention."

His voice was filled with tears as he was telling that Anthony Torres was showing up at his home after the train ride to ask for a sleeping bag, saying that he was ready to spend the night under a bridge. .

"For so many years, he has lived this way and I am sorry for him. It's hard to see the life he has lived, "said Thomas Torres.

Anthony Torres said that he did not realize that he was filmed on the train. When he discovered that the video was circulating on the Internet, he was stunned and a little upset.

"I never thought it would become viral, people would laugh at me," he said.

Thomas Torres said they contacted the media because he thought it was important for people to hear his brother's side.

"Maybe people will feel more like what this child has been through," he said.

The man who shared the clip tweeted later that he did not want to hurt by sharing the video, and promised to pass the proceeds of his licenses to Torres.