Joanna Topor

The full extent of the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina may not be known for another few months, but one thing that has come out of this mind-boggling tragedy is the readiness of people across the nation to come to their fellow Americans' aid. Not short on good Samaritans, local establishments across the Chicago area are coming together to help bring our neighbors down south a little peace in the storm, while offering a variety of incentives--from beauty treatments to booze--to all who come out to help.

"It is impossible to watch [it on] TV and not want to do something," says local designer Elysabeth Alfano, who owns the label Elyse C. Bec. Twenty-five-percent of all online sales from her fall Silk Roads Collection, which includes an array of hand-woven scarves, wraps and shawls perfect for the inevitable drop in temperature, will be donated to the Red Cross. "The people on the ground know how to best use the donations," she says, "I just hope the donations help the victims and their pets to know they aren't alone."

If you've been meaning to get to the salon, hold off for a few more weeks and make your cut mean something. Salon Slice will be holding a cut-a-thon, Sunday October 2nd from 11am to 4pm, with proceeds going to relief organizations. Along with $20 haircuts, the salon will also offer one-dollar-a-minute chair massages and will be accepting donations of food, clothing and toiletries --all of which are redeemable for a free paraffin-wax treatment.

To keep the giving spirit going into the night, follow your hair cut with a trip to Metro/Smart Bar and ask your bartender about drink specials that benefit the Red Cross.

(2005-09-27)

Also by Joanna Topor

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Waxing Poetic
A bikini-waxing riddle: What does $20 buy you?
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Manicure Mayhem
Nothing goes better with a manicure than a martini. And now you can have both
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A little salon home
Chicago coiffure is getting a new slice of life under the expert hands of Erica Badke
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Free Wheelin'
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The Great Escape
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Beach-blanket roulette
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Rhapsody in Blue
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The Denim Dance
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The Good Jean Pool
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The Beauty Bunch
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Stranger than fiction
(2004-10-06)

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