Elgin barbers offer free haircuts to underprivileged students

Several Elgin barbers will come together to provide free back-to-school haircuts to Elgin-area students in need Sunday.

Haircuts are available on a walk-in basis from noon to 5 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin, 355 Dundee Ave., Elgin.

"I have at least 12 barbers who are willing to help out," said Wilbur Dumas Jr., who opened a barbershop in Elgin because he wanted to give back to the community."

Sunday's event exclusively will cater to underprivileged kids who live in the area of the club, he added.

Dumas said volunteers will cut hair for "as many (kids) as we can take ... there is no limit at all. We're trying to take care of everybody."

Classes begin Monday for more than 37,000 Elgin Area School District U-46 students.

Dumas, 37, is a product of the Boys and Girls Club of Elgin and a graduate of Larkin High School in Elgin. He started Lincoln Avenue Barbershop four years ago with little money in his pocket.

Today, it is a bustling operation with six barbers - three Black, two Puerto Rican, and one Asian American - who grew up in the community with Dumas. The shop moved into a new, larger downtown location in April.

Dumas volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club and teaches part-time at the Cosmetology and Spa Academy in Elgin. He has been offering free haircuts to Boys and Girls Club members at the barber school throughout the pandemic.

He will be leading the effort Sunday along with barbers from Fade Stars Barbershop and In The Cut Hair Studios, both of Elgin, and his barber school students.