Salons and barbershops are centers of their communities, where people gather for great grooming and glam sessions but also to connect—with their favorite stylists, with their friends and with news of their neighborhood. Many of these beauty hubs also provide essential services for their clientele that go beyond what’s expected. Some barbershops, for instance, offer blood pressure screenings while many salons promote breast cancer awareness and support survivors with post-treatment makeovers.

On Nov. 4, 2017, 23 Floyd’s 99 Barbershop locations in Southern California hosted a one-day bone marrow swab registry event. Some 23 shops in Southern California offered clients a chance to use a swab kit and get registered for the bone marrow donor registry. 

At the Goal Line Barber and Beauty Barbershop in St. Louis, stylists are taking part in a program, “Fade Out,” organized by the Health Department to offer counseling about sexually-transmitted-diseases or STDs (also called sexually-transmitted-infections or STIs.) According to the Centers for Disease Control, last year alone there were more than 22,000 cases of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea in the area.

Goal Line owner, Cordell Edwards, and her team received education about how to start the conversation and where to direct clients for STD testing and more information. “We're trying to save lives in our community,” Edwards said in an article shared on a local news outlet at www.ksdk.com.

Hairdressers who receive training from Eyes On Cancer learn about the prevention and early detection of cancer. Being aware of the early signs of melanoma has meant they can provide their clients with both caring hands and an educated eye. Eyes On Cancer is seeking to train beauty professionals in schools and salons so they can bring their awareness back to their clients and friends.

Hairdresser Jeanne Braa Foster and her husband, Dr. Dean Foster, launched Eyes on Cancer, and the course is free and available online. The Fosters have a rule: “If you see something, say something!”