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A Bath barber who overcame drug addiction aims to extend his project of helping the homeless.
Eddie Ilic went into recovery aged 21 when he hit rock bottom, telling his mum: “I’ve just had enough, I cannot go on like this anymore.”
Two years into his rehabilitation, he said his life was “amazing” and wanted to help those in need in the community.
He has created pop-up salons across the city and at the charities Julian House and Genesis Trust to give rough sleepers a free cut.
“I cut their hair and give them a message of hope and recovery,” he said.
He has launched Eddie’s Street Cuts at the city centre salon where he works, BA1 Hair in George Street.
He said there are hairdressers across the county who want to get involved and is bidding for funding to buy more equipment.
“We are hoping to let the South West know what we are about, “he said. “The homeless [situation] is massive here in the city of Bath and this country.”
Looking back on his own story, Eddie previously said: “It really all started by smoking a bit of weed when I was 14 but soon escalated into dabbling with other things.
“I thought I was in control even though I was expelled from school and later suspended from work, but I wasn’t in control.
“My addiction had got so bad I ended up in serious trouble with the police.”
Philip Thompson, founder and director of BA1 Hair, said he had been patient with Eddie but that the apprentice’s repeated disappearances from the salon in Bartlett Street had left him with little choice but to suspend him from work. Luckily for Eddie, his boss was prepared to give him another chance.
“I honestly think without the structure of work and their support I would have sunk even lower,” Eddie said. “I dread to think what my destiny might have been.
“I just love my life today. I’ve got myself back, I’ve got my peace of mind, I’ve got trust with the family. It’s an amazing thing.”
A documentary made about Mr Ilic by four Bath Spa University students last summer can be seen on the Bath Live website.
Aidan Archer, Henry Blackaller, Ollie Curtis and Tom Minty - who studied film, television and digital production - are part of Athos Media.
Mr Blackaller said: “It takes a very in-depth and personal view into Eddie’s life and shows a very real depiction of the homelessness problem in Bath and how we can change our attitudes towards it.”
In the film, Mr Ilic describes why he cuts homeless people’s hair and what he gets out of it.
He said: “When I cut their hair I tell them a little bit about myself.
“A lot of them ask ‘why do you do this, do you charge, are you working?.’
“It’s like ‘No, I do it in my spare time.’ For me I do it as part of giving back because I share with them my story and they share with me theirs.
“It works both ways, and we’re passing on a message of hope.”
The homeless situation is massive here in the city of Bath and this country. Eddie Ilic