This unexpected treat was due to the efforts of Cindy Gaitan, a stylist at the salon. Gaitan organized the makeover drive as part of a leadership seminar to give women on welfare a little extra boost as they try to re-enter the workforce. But this is nothing new to the Andrew James Salon, which regularly gives back to the community with events like this.

"This salon gives back to the community with a vengeance," says James Koustoumbardis, the salon's owner. "I try to encourage our stylists to go through this program, because we like to give back as much as possible." The salon, which has been in Cupertino for 15 years, has donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and breast cancer charities. Gaitan also credits Koustoumbardis as a mentor for her project.

"Before I came here, I worked in a barbershop, and I felt like I was a hamster on a wheel," Gaitan says. She received her license after graduating from high school in 1990 and has been working at the salon for 2¹/2 years, since Koustoumbardis retrained her as a stylist.

A number of stylists at the Andrew James Salon have taken leadership classes, and Gaitan used the opportunity to reach out like Koustoumbardis had done for her.

As part of the class she's taking—the Self-Expression and Leadership Program with Landmark Education in downtown San Jose—Gaitan had to stage a community project based on an activity she loves to do. Others in her class collected computers for distribution at retirement homes or held blood drives at their churches. Gaitan chose to do something with her job. "I love what I do," she says. "This was a real breakthrough in generosity and doing things for others. This was not about me."

Gaitan had to push her boundaries a bit to get her project going, however. Securing the salon for a day wasn't difficult given the past charity work, but to attract interested parties, Gaitan had to call organizations like Career Closet and the Welfare to Work Partnership. "I'm not one to engage or communicate with people very easily," she says.

But enough women heard about the offer to fill the salon almost the entire day. By 1:30 p.m., 22 people had come through, looking for a fresh look to take to interviews. "It's quieted down a lot," Gaitan says. "We were just jumping this morning." While giving their lunch orders, the staff of stylists commented that they needed about five sandwiches a person to get their strength back up.

One woman even had a job interview at 2:15 p.m. that she was going to rush to after her highlights were done. Robles, who has just landed child care for her three youngest children, is working on her résumé in hopes of finding a job in the healthcare industry. She was previously a medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente.

"I'm glad that I have a car and that I was just able to get here," Robles says.

Helping these women regain their confidence was the point of Gaitan's project. "Doing what we did today has such an impact," she says. In addition to the makeovers, one of Gaitan's colleagues was saving long lengths of hair to donate to Locks of Love, a charity that collects human hair for wigs for those who lose their hair due to medical afflictions.

But Gaitan's project is already serving its purpose. She has heard from her contact at Career Closet, who said Career Closet wants to be involved the next time the Andrew James Salon does a similar project. "They said the women were on cloud nine," Gaitan says. "The counselors didn't even recognize some of them."