Homeless and battling drug addiction for 10 years, Robert Valencia is hoping to feel renewed, even if it's just for a day.
"Makes me feel good about my appearance," says Valencia.
Along the railroad tracks at Manteca's Wilson Park, Barber Derrick Asher is helping Valencia and other people struggling with homelessness feel alive again.
"I believe everybody is made in God's image. And, everybody has value and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. You know what I mean," says Asher.
Since April, Derrick has been at the park every Monday, sometimes giving one cut, sometimes several.
Warren Gardner, who has been homeless for more than 3 years, has had Derrick cut his hair three times.
"You feel clean like you want to dress up more. You feel clean like a normal being," says Gardner.
"I just woke up one day and wanted to come out here and try it out. And, the feedback was so positive I wanted to keep coming back."
For 10 years, Asher was in a different place.
He was a skateboarder who abused drugs and lived a dangerous lifestyle that nearly put him on the streets like the customers he now serves.
"I was doing coke. I was smoking a lot of weed," Asher said.
He says his lowest point was two years ago, alone in a hotel, away from his wife and two kids.
He beat his addiction by turning to the church, a story he shares with his customers.
"He used to be out here. He could have ended up like one of these guys. I'll just put it that way. And that's one thing that I prayed for for a long time to have him turn around and he's finally done it," said Derrick's mother Sandra Asher, who is a hair stylist.
So when his customers look at themselves in the mirror, Derrick hopes they'll walk away with not just a sense of pride, but also with the hope that they may one day too, turn their lives around, like this cut above barber did.
For now, Derrick is only experienced in cutting men's hair.
He hopes a stylist who cuts women's hair will join him on Monday's at 9 a.m. at Wilson Park in Manteca, across from the city's only public library.