Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Jenny Ly, a stylist at the Regis hair salon in the Sunnyvale Town Center Mall, puts finishing touches on Claudia Valiente's new haircut. The salon will host 'Clip for the Cure' next Saturday, an annual event that offers discounted haircuts with all proceeds benefiting breast cancer research.
Hair styling for a solution
Salon offers cheap coifs to fight cancer
By Kelly Wilkinson
People are walking for it, biking for it and buying stamps for it, so why not clip for it? This Saturday, hair stylists at Regis Salon in Sunnyvale will take part in the ninth annual Clip for the Cure, a nationwide event that encourages haircutters to offer discounted 'dos to benefit breast cancer research.
"We care deeply about this cause because breast cancer affects so many women--our clients, our friends, our loved ones," Alma Cardenas of Regis Salon says. "We want to do our part to make a difference."
Haircuts at Regis normally fetch up to $34, but on Saturday the salon will set up a station in the main part of the Sunnyvale Towncenter mall and charge $10. The cuts are given on a walk-in basis, with all of the money going toward breast cancer research.
"We get a lot of business doing this, and all of the money goes to a good cause," Cardenas says. "All of the stylists donate their time and their expertise, so we don't benefit anything except knowing that we're helping."
Regis--the nation's largest owner and operator of hair salons--is also contributing 10 percent of all the proceeds from its products to cancer research through Oct. 16. The hair-care company supports a foundation for breast cancer research which distributes money to the Mayo Foundation in Minnesota. Regis also supports three postdoctoral fellows conducting research in the field of breast cancer through the Mayo Clinic.
Last year Regis raised almost $290,000 during Clip for the Cure in salons across the country, and itscontributions in the past nine years total more than $2.5 million.
Cardenas pointed to the fact that 80 percent of Regis' employees nationwide are female, which accounts for part of the company's proactive stance in battling breast cancer.
Andrea Johnson, public relations manager for Regis Corporation, says the wife of the company's chairman had breast cancer, which served as the impetus for the annual fund-raising effort.
"So it's a real personal cause for us," Johnson said.
Johnson estimates that more than 21,000 haircuts will be given during this year's Clip for the Cure. The Sunnyvale event--which pulls stylists from other salons in the area to participate as well--will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., across from Radio Shack on the upper level of the mall. For more information, call 408.738.3885.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
