CLEVELAND, Ohio — “I can remember like it was yesterday as she was coming towards me with the clippers in her hand. I just kind of grabbed her wrist and I asked my mother if I can cut my own hair,” said Waverlly Willis, owner, Urban Kutz Barbershop.

 40 years later, Waverly Willis still has a pair of clippers in his hands. 

• He has been a licensed barber for 14 years, and he often visits his past as a way to give back
• He became addicted to crack cocaine, he was an alcoholic, and he was homeless, and his clippers helped transform his life
• He teaches the next generation of barbers how to cut hair and encourages them to never give up on their passion or themselves

Almost 7 days of the week, you can find Willis in one of the two Urban Kutz Barbershops that he’s opened in his hometown of Cleveland. 

But his story isn’t just one of success.

Willis says he made a lot of wrong turns before going in the right direction. 

“I stayed on honor and the merit roll, but at the same time, after I would leave football practice, me and my friends, we lived that street life, so we would go out and sell drugs,” said Willis.

He decided to try the drugs he was selling, and one time was all it took. 

“I eventually made the cardinal sin once I transitioned from high school into college of don’t get high off your own supply, I did that,” said Willis. 

Willis’s life spiraled out of control.

He became addicted to crack cocaine, he was an alcoholic, and he was homeless. 

“I was the guy downtown picking the cigarette butts off the ground in front of the Greyhound station. I was the guy downtown with the cup in his hand,” said Willis.

But he also held on to his clippers. 

“I guess that was God subconsciously letting me know that this was my way out,” said Willis.

And they were his way out. 

In the early 2000s, someone took a chance on him, affording him the opportunity to attend barber college.

And that chance changed his life. 

Willis has been a licensed barber for 14 years, and though his past is in his rear view, he often visits it, as a way to give back. 

“We are on our way to the Bishop Cosgrove Center on 17^th and Superior, it’s a homeless shelter, a day drop-in shelter,” said Willis. “This is a place that I will come every day when I was homeless, and coincidentally, just in this general area, is where I used to sleep at. You see how this steam is coming up off the ground right here.? We would sleep on that just for warmth when we couldn’t get into the shelter.”

He provides Bishop Cosgrove’s guests with free haircuts. 

Some of the people he shares his story with can’t believe that he was once exactly where they are. 

His clippers helped transform his life.

And now they transform how people look and how they feel about themselves.

Willis then heads to LaBarberia Institute of Hair, where he teaches the next generation of barbers.

Not only does he teach his students how to cut hair, but he encourages them to never give up on their passion or on themselves.

Ending his days back at Urban Kutz, Willis gives advice and encouragement to each person who sits in his chair.

Conversations aren’t typical barbershop banter. They stem from his own life experiences.

“I want my people to know that I genuinely care about them, their, their mental, physical, financial health, so I wanted our clients to be able to come away from the barbershop and have more than just a haircut,” Willis said.

Once a crack addict, Waverly Willis is now a community advocate —always looking for a way to positively impact the city of Cleveland, clippers in hand. 

Willis is the founder of The Urban Barber Association, a network of barbershops and beauty salons that have united to address issues that are affecting Cleveland’s urban communities.