Skill brings him a deck full of friends.

Byline: PEOPLE By Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

It's his first day back visiting Eugene and it's no accident that Matt Toeaina - former University of Oregon football player now employed by the Cincinnati Bengals - has plopped his considerable frame into a plastic chair and donned a barber's cape.

"You look in the mirror and you notice it's about that time," Toeaina says, sitting stoically as Demond Johnson meticulously trims his hair and beard.

"I have a relationship with Demond," the football player says. "I don't have to tell him what I need - he already knows. He's the only one who's ever cut my hair in Eugene."

Toeaina's testimonial isn't offered in some tony barbershop. He's sitting on the unstained deck of an apartment complex west of the UO campus, soaking up the rays and listening to Johnson's iPod medley of rap and R&B.

Cars and bicyclists zip by and students stroll by in a mosaic of Hilyard Street activity. If the sun's shining, it's more likely than not that this urban scene will include Johnson with his Antis Master Hair Clippers in hand.

But Johnson, 24, is no professional barber - he's a young man in between terms at Lane Community College who aspires to a career in radiology or another health field. In the meantime, he works as a courtesy clerk at the local Safeway - and cuts lots of hair on his apartment deck.

Most of his customers are young black men, including many who play on the UO football team. Star running back Jonathan Stewart, for example, says he keeps coming back because he likes Johnson's work ethic and the deckside ambiance.

"He treats it like an art, spends a lot of time on the taper," Stewart says. "Plus, it's relaxing here. The music's on, people honk, you can go get a Slurpee" at the 7-Eleven nearby.

Johnson says he takes all comers, having cut the hair of at least one homeless man and more than a few white dudes partial to hip-hop music.

But he doesn't cut women's hair.

"They want me to, but I don't do it," he says. "I'd have to use scissors then, and I just go for the straight clippers. If a girl wanted a shaved head, though, she'd know where to come."

Johnson grew up in Portland, where an every-other-week haircut was part of his childhood routine. He remembers studying the barbers doing their work and thinking, "Hey, I want to do that."

After graduating from high school, Johnson attended Mount Hood Community College and then a barber college. He worked briefly at a barbershop and trimmed the heads of notables such as Portland Trail Blazer Darius Miles.

But he decided he wanted a change of scenery, academic and otherwise, and moved to Eugene last year.

At first, he cut hair in his kitchen. But then he moved to his current apartment complex, and the high-visibility deck provided the best in free advertising.

His skill with the clippers has helped produce a bevy of new friends. "I came down here knowing only two people and now I know a whole football team and a lot more," he marvels.

During football season, the highlight for Johnson is when one of his customers is interviewed after the game - with his helmet off. `If a player is interviewed on TV, that's when I say, `Hey, that's my haircut,' ' he says.

Johnson specializes in what he calls tapers, shadow fades and all-evens. He can leave your hair an inch thick, or "make you practically bald."

Johnson's roommate, Leon Murry, insists there's no better place to get your hair cut.

"It's like a barbershop but better because we all love each other," he says. "It's the Comfort Zone."

"Guys out here are talking mess all day long," adds Johnson. "You can't do that in a barbershop - you'd get in a fight."

"That's where the Comfort Zone kicks in," says Murry.

But most of the male banter is just bluff, says Rachel Mussallem, a senior at the UO and Johnson's girlfriend.

"Most folks are intimidated by him because he's so big," she says of her beau. "He tries to come off as a tough guy but he's really just a teddy bear. You should see him with my niece and nephew."

Tough or soft, Johnson says cutting hair is what he loves to do - though not enough to make a career out of it.

"I'd like to help people out in some way other than just making them look good," he says. "What if I get carpal tunnel?"

But for now, Johnson says there's no better way to spend a warm afternoon than being part of the scene along Hilyard Street.

A few minutes later, as if to prove his point, a middle-aged woman rides by on a bicycle with a grin and a greeting.

"Hello, Mr. Barber Man," she shouts with a wave. Johnson responds with a nod of his clippers.

DEMOND JOHNSON

Bio: Single, 24. Reared in Portland, lives in Eugene

Occupation: Grocery store clerk, unofficial barber

Sports background: Played baseball (third base, pitcher) in high school, follows the L.A. Angels

What friends don't know about him: "I'm allergic to peanuts. I've never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my life. You see how big I am, you'd think I had many PBJ sandwiches, but I haven't."