Village resident and hair stylist Jason Laveck, pictured above, has committed to providing two free haircuts each month from his chair at In Salon, located at 120 Dayton St., and hopes to provide more through a pay-it-forward fund. (Submitted photo)
Villager offers fresh cuts, paid forward
- Published: August 8, 2026
There’s nothing quite like an hour at the hair salon: Whatever you might have been when you stepped through the door — stressed, tired, locks a little longer than you might like — after some time spent having your hair washed, trimmed and styled, you invariably walk away feeling a little new.
It’s an experience local resident and hair stylist Jason Laveck believes everyone should be able to access, forming the basis of his recently launched free haircut, pay-what-you-can and pay-it-forward fund initiative.
Beginning this month, Laveck has committed to providing two free haircuts each month from his chair at In Salon, located at 120 Dayton St., and donations to a fund he’s established will cover additional free haircuts. When his schedule permits, he’s also offering pay-what-you-can appointments.
The effort is Laveck’s own, rather than an In Salon program, and appointments are first come, first served, with a waitlist maintained as donations arrive or new openings become available.
In speaking with the News this week, Laveck said he won’t ask for any documentation from folks who might be in need of the free service — just asking will be enough.
“This is the honor system,” Laveck said. “If you say you need a free haircut, then you need a free haircut.”
Laveck said the new initiative grew from the response to past pay-what-you-can haircut events, as some people continued asking when another would be held, and others contacted Laveck on behalf of those who could use the service. With the new school year fast approaching, he also thought of families unable to add haircuts to back-to-school expenses.
“There’s a need in our community, as small as it is, and as disproportionately wealthy as it is,” Laveck said. “There’s still people here who need these things.”
Laveck has been cutting hair for several years and became a licensed hairstylist in January 2025. As a newer stylist, sometimes with fewer clients than his more seasoned salon partners, he said he considered his open hours an opportunity to do some good.
“I’m still sharpening my skills and everything,” he said. “But I’ve been working on haircuts since before I went to hair school. … So I thought one way that I could use these time slots that aren’t filled is to meet this need.”
As of Monday, July 27, the free haircut fund had received $195 in donations. That’s enough, Laveck said, to cover several haircuts beyond the two he’ll provide himself. He’s set aside time on Wednesdays for the appointments, and those who sign up can look forward to the full salon experience: shampooing, scalp massage, a cut and styling and detox treatments when needed — time spent being cared for.
Laveck said he recently tended to a mother of three who had gone more than a year without a haircut. He gave her a shag cut that worked with her hair’s natural wave, then watched her response when she looked in the mirror.
“She was just so ecstatic that she got this haircut,” he said. “I think it gives people confidence and helps them feel better about themselves.”
It’s confidence, he added, that might carry someone into a job interview or simplify a single parent’s pre-work-and-school morning tasks and rituals. In all cases, Laveck hopes it will offer a fresh view of the person in the mirror.
“Whatever it means to each individual is going to be different,” he said. “It’s going to be a matter of perspective, but it’s going to help. It’s going to help someone in a multitude of ways.”
Laveck said he grew up in Springfield, but his mother worked in the village throughout his childhood. On sunny summer days, she would drop him at Gaunt Park Pool during her lunch break, and when it rained, he’d browse music at Dingleberry’s or comic books at Dark Star.
“I didn’t live here, but I walked around here and enjoyed it, and I felt safe here,” he said.
After years of visiting, Laveck made the village his home in 2020. He said arriving during the pandemic initially made it difficult to settle into the village socially, but working behind a salon chair and listening as neighbors talked through pieces of their lives helped him form new bonds.
“I found it a great point to connect with people here, people I would have never connected with,” he said.
Laveck, who also engages his creative penchant as a photographer, said he fervently believes in using art to give back to his communities; he’s spent a decade organizing “Portraits of Hope,” offering free portrait sessions to cancer survivors and their families, and at press time was preparing to host “Portraits of Hope” sessions at Ellis Park.
Likewise, just as Yellow Springs has offered him a community, he said he hopes he can offer something back via the art of hairstyling: an ordinary, comforting exchange that allows someone to enter without having to justify their circumstances and leave refreshed, having received the same attention as any other client.
“I see it as a goal to … do what I can for this small community that I’ve found comfort and safety in,” Laveck said. “I want others to feel that comfort and safety that I’ve had here my entire life. … I want people to see that there’s still good out there — even if it’s just in an hour-long haircut.”
To request a free or pay-what-you-can haircut, or to contribute to the pay-it-forward fund, contact Laveck via email at jasonsnipsys@gmail.com, message @jasonsnips on Instagram or contact Jason Snips on Facebook.
Because the initiative is his own, Laveck asks that interested folks contact him directly rather than via In Salon.
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