Former client's request spurs cut-a-thon event
Hair and nail salons team up to raise money for cancer society
BY MARLENE CANTY
Staff Writer

Old Bridge - Isabel Feiteira still remembers the day last March when a client at her previous hair salon came in with an extraordinary request.

The customer had just started the first round of chemotherapy in her battle with breast cancer. Not only was she struggling to deal with the disease, but also the emotional and psychological effects of losing her hair. For some, it can be like losing their identity and perhaps their self-esteem.

The client boldly asked Feiteira to shave her head and then cut a wig into her regular hairstyle.

"It was such an incredible act of courage," Feiteira said. "It changed my thinking about how some women with breast cancer deal with such a life-altering experience."

Feiteira has since lost touch with the woman that she only remembers as Barbara, but the impact of the experience has stayed with her.

Today, as owner of the newly opened Belisa Beauty Salon in Old Bridge, Isabel is determined to honor Barbara's tenacity in the face of adversity by observing National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a cut-a-thon on Oct. 22.

"A business like this is a great opportunity to bring awareness to people," said Feiteira, who had a family member succumb to colon cancer a year-and-a-half ago.

The event from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. will offer patrons the regular price of $35 a cut, and the salon will donate 30 percent of its gross for that day to the National Cancer Society.

Y-ME, the National Breast Cancer Organization, will provide pink ribbons, information booklets and other literature on breast self-examination, early detection, the importance of mammograms and a personal action plan for maintaining breast health.

The Chicago-based organization has a 24-hour hot line staffed entirely by breast cancer survivors who are trained peer counselors.

Belisa is partnering with its neighbor, the Polished Image Nail Salon, for the Oct. 22 event. The nail salon will simultaneously conduct a "mani-pedicure-a-thon."

Kerri Karlas, owner of the Polished Image, said it is a matter of awareness.

"People believe it won't happen to them, and as a result won't [actively] take responsibility. Take action, do the exam, so by the time they are detected it won't be too late," she said.

Karlas credits Feiteira with the idea for the event, and said she hopes one of its benefits will be that people will take part and take an interest even if it's not something they have been personally touched by.

The two businesses, located at 22 Old Matawan Road, suites A and G respectively, will also feature a bake sale that day with cookies, brownies and cupcakes, donating 100 percent of the proceeds to the National Cancer Society.

According to statistics on the Y-ME Web site, in 2006 it is expected that there will be an estimated 212,980 new breast cancer cases nationally. Of those new cases, it is estimated 1,720 will be men. It is also estimated that in the United States there will be 41,430 breast cancer deaths in 2006.

The site reports that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths for women 40-55 years of age, and that right now approximately 2 million women in the United States have been diagnosed and are being treated. Another 1 million go undiagnosed.

Closer to home, between 1999 and 2003 some 596 women in Middlesex County succumbed to breast cancer.

The pink ribbon that will be given to participants in the Oct. 22 event has come to symbolize the need for breast cancer awareness.

For further information about the events, contact the Belisa Beauty Salon at (732) 238-8833 or the Polished Image at (732) 254-6666.

For more information about breast cancer prevention and detection, call the Y-Me's 24-hour hot line at 1-800-221-2141 or go online at Y-Me.org.