EUGENE, Ore. — The buzz of the cordless clippers is barely audible over the din of traffic overhead as Jacob Lucas cuts the hair of a man seated at a picnic table at Washington-Jefferson Park.
Attending to his work, Lucas, 36, described how he had frequently slept at the park, waking up with utter despair and wondering where his next fix of heroin or methamphetamine would come from. He doubts whether there’s a restroom near the park that he hasn’t used to shoot up.
“Now that I think about it, that’s yesterday,” Lucas said with some finality, moving the electric clippers over the man’s scalp.
Today, after several stints behind bars, four drug overdoses — just last year — and now more than six months clean, Lucas has found redemption in barbering. For several months, he’s been giving free haircuts to homeless people.
Lucas said he hopes the haircuts give homeless people the self-esteem and confidence to change their own lives.
“Hopefully, it will give them the will to get a job or something,” he said.
Ashlee Wiese, a local defense attorney who has represented Lucas, said she has seen that transformation in demeanor firsthand.
“We had a woman who got her haircut, and it was a whole new life for her at that moment,” she said. “She just felt so much better about who she was just because someone cared enough to help her feel better about the way she looked.”
Wiese added: “I think (Lucas is) trying hard to be that … little bit of inspiration for others, and I think it drives him. I think it helps him stay where he’s at by seeing where he’s been.”
Barbering may be the one stabilizing force in Lucas’ life — past, present and future.
Lucas still fondly remembers the smell of the talcum power and the idle chit-chat of the old-timers who gathered during his boyhood visits to the barber shop in Reno, Nev.
Lucas said he had a barbering license in Utah in 2014, but that it lapsed while he was deep in his drug addiction.
And he acknowledged that barbering may be one of the few chances for him to earn enough money to stay off the streets and away from the drugs and crime that have dominated his life since he was 14.
Lucas said his early experimentation with drugs soon morphed into a severe addiction. Criminal behavior to feed his habit followed.
He said he’s served time twice in a youth correctional facility and three times in an adult prison.
He first moved to Eugene from Reno in 2009 to be closer to his brother, Beau, and almost immediately ran into trouble. He was convicted of three felonies — second-degree theft, possession of methamphetamine and unlawful use of a weapon — for two separate incidents several months apart in 2009, according to court records. He was sentenced to prison time.
In February 2017, less than a month after he said his mother died, Lucas again was charged with possession of methamphetamine. The following month, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail and 18 months of probation, court records show.
This began the downward spiral where he said he overdosed four times, twice being transported to the hospital.
In late 2017, Lucas got serious about changing his life and detoxed at Buckley House in January. Lucas decided he could either continue using drugs, commit suicide “or I was going to live good in my mom’s name to make her proud.”
“Nothing will get you sober until you want to be a better person for yourself,” he said.
He now rents a room near Valley River Center and works about 24 hours a week at a local call center.
But barbering remains his passion.
Earlier this year, he began giving free haircuts for homeless people where they congregate, including Kesey Square in the heart of downtown and Washington-Jefferson Park, below the Interstate 105 bridge. He also cuts hair at Buckley House and a local assisted-living center.
He had cut hair at community court, a city of Eugene justice program that prioritizes community service and social service assistance over jail time for people cited for low-level, nonviolent crimes downtown. He was shifted to other duties at the court after officials learned he didn’t have a valid barbering license in Oregon.
He said he needs to raise about $1,500 to attend a local barbering school so he can complete the hours he needs to earn his Oregon license. He said his income from the call center goes toward rent and his phone bill.
Lucas said several barber shops have expressed interest in hiring him when he gets his Oregon license.
Wiese, who works as the community court’s defense attorney, said Lucas has demonstrated a commitment to court, describing him as a “Steady Eddie,” who shows up early before every court session.
“I’m proud of him,” she said.
