Little ‘princesses’ get the royal treatment at salon

 

By Rebecca Jones

C & G Staff Writer

     Some girls left the salon with pink highlights. Some got stylish bobs and dropped their ex-ponytails in a basket on their way out. One girl who didn’t have any hair due to cancer treatments simply had her head sprayed pink.

     It was Allie’s Angels third annual Day of Beauty, giving young cancer patients a chance to be pampered, primped and painted. Other girls donated their healthy hair to make wigs.

     The event is one of the ways Allie Cibulas’ family honors her memory. The Birmingham girl was 5 when she died of brain cancer in 2001. A girly girl, Allie loved going to the salon, said her mom, Sandy. “She always did her hair up.” Allie wanted to be a princess when she grew up.

     Allie’s sister, Megan, sacrificed two 10-inch ponytails of her thick, blond hair. It was her third time cutting it for a cause. Thankfully, it grows quickly.

     “I did it for the first time before my sister died,” the 11-year-old said. “Now I do it because I know how my sister felt when she lost her hair.”

     Allie’s other sister, Caroline, 7, said it is nice that everyone visited the salon to make the Allie’s Angels beauty day another success.

     Mckenna Galloway of Commerce Township has been treated like a princess during all three of the annual salon days. Mckenna’s cancer is in remission after 26 weeks of treatments, and her pretty brown hair has grown back. A stylist added temporary pink highlights and a barrette. The first-grader also had her nails painted a bold, Toronto Maple Leafs blue, which is one of her favorite colors, she said.

     “Allie loved pink and purple,” said Connie Beach, owner of the Lynn Gordon Salon, which hosted the beauty day for the second year. “It’s a lot of fun,” she said, adding that everyone on staff and some outsiders volunteered to work the event. “We do hair, makeup, nails and toes. Almost everyone got the full service.”

     The girls wore pink boas, tiaras and flip-flops to show off their pedicures. Allie’s Angels invited them through Beaumont and the University of Michigan hospitals and the Rainbow Connection.

     Ponytail donor Carlee Bazil, 11, was looking forward to summer with short hair. “It will be good because I swim, and it takes forever to dry.” Her sister, Jenna, 7, also cut her hair. The Bloomfield Hills girl had trouble getting used to the new look but said it was worth it. “It will give other people a wig.”

     It takes 10 to 15 ponytails to make a wig, according to Locks of Love.

     Allie’s Angels foundation works to help seriously ill children and support the effort to cure pediatric brain cancer. Children form the junior board of directors.

     To learn more about Allie’s Angels, visit its Web site at www.alliesangels.org.

     You can reach Rebecca Jones at rjones@candgnews.com