Stay Beautiful - Stay Alive is a cancer awareness and education project in beauty salons. The program, developed in the Chicago area, was delivered to women in one of their most populated elements - beauty salons. Stay Beautiful-Stay Alive, encourages women to do not only what it takes to look good, but includes messages that are intended to keep them alive.

African American women are still experiencing higher rates of cancer morbidity and mortality from breast cancer than white women. For this reason it was determined that there needed to be more concerted efforts to increase knowledge, change attitudes and encourage early detection within this special population.  Women spend a great deal of time in beauty salons, especially on weekends. In the African American community, the barbers or beautician/cosmetologists are traditionally the information brokers and counselors with a great deal of influence on their constituency. Beauty salons offer a unique, underutilized setting, which presents an excellent opportunity for increasing breast and cervical awareness among African Americans.

This project entails a thorough breast & cervical cancer education and information session by trained volunteers. It involves a community partnership between NBLIC II, the volunteer facilitators, salon owners, stylists and their clients. Stay Beautiful-Stay Alive is a research program funded by the National Cancer Institute to document the impact of structured training by community volunteers on changing behavior and practices among their African American peers.

If you would like to get involved, please contact the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer (NBLIC) II: Network Project at 1-800-724-1185. Volunteers and salon owners/stylists are needed.