Giving Haircuts to the Homeless Is How This Sober Barber Gives Back
JASON SCHNEIDMAN, 51, has cut and styled Rob Lowe’s and James Corden’s hair. But it’s his work with the homeless that truly empowers him.
When I turned 30, the wheels fell off. I was smoking crack and doing meth. I was miserable and knew I had to change. Homelessness caused me to find rehab—which I went in and out of for four years.
Recovery didn’t work for me at first. It took effort, but I slowly started feeling better about myself with talk therapy. Except that even though I stopped using, life was still all about me.
I was buying more stuff, and bigger stuff, just to make myself feel good. I didn’t feel good. In fact, I didn’t feel as great as I did early in recovery.
I realized that I was missing a key component: helping others. I shot a TV-show pilot where I would roll up on people on the street, give them a haircut, and transform their appearance.
I gave one haircut to a guy who was homeless and an alcoholic. Nothing ever came of the show, but a couple months later, it dawned on me—the best part of the day was helping that guy. So I started regularly hitting the streets with a backpack and some cordless clippers.
I’ve been sober for 17 years, and that work—talking to and providing a simple service for those in need—is what gives me purpose, vision, and a sense of living outside myself. It’s changed how I do my day job, too.
I have a barbershop and product line where part of the proceeds go to the Los Angeles rehabs and sober-living facilities that I recommend to some of the homeless who are struggling with addiction.
When I was drinking and doing drugs, my dream was to be rich. I thought success was a personal achievement. Every now and then, a homeless person who finds recovery will come back and visit me. They’ll say that me cutting their hair and talking to them changed their life.
That sense of giving, of paying it forward, of others—that’s how I define my success.
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