Gilbert Lucas’s life was going so well at the time he opened his Cheyenne barber shop in 2024 that he grew afraid to speak his dreams out loud and jinx it all.

“When we were opening up, I was afraid to speak because anything I said was happening,” he told Cowboy State Daily during an interview at his Randall Avenue shop. “Anything that I requested in the world just showed up with a little ribbon on it.”

The moment for Lucas was a monumental one given how turbulent his life had been before that point.

Lucas had been a criminal and went to prison before becoming a nationally-recognized barber, and even having his name inscribed on statues in Cheyenne.

The experience taught him how to lead with love and look for the beauty in life, he said.

“It just baffles me to realize how much people

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