Beauty N Black Wellness Tour to improve health of African American families

In an effort to improve the health of African American families, the Beauty N Black Wellness Tour will turn beauty salons into centers for health information and screening, starting with a June 30^th launch in Los Angeles. Women visiting the salons will have the opportunity to talk with experts about common health concerns and to get screened by a health professional for diabetes, high blood pressure and HIV. The Black BeautyShop Health Foundation (www.blackbeautyshop.org) will produce the nine-city tour in collaboration with the American Diabetes Association and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

"Women are the health CEO of the family," said Margo LaDrew, executive director of the Black BeautyShop Health Foundation. "Given that black women visit the salon an average of 2.5 times a month, the beauty shop is an ideal place to educate women and equip them with practical tools for improving their family's health."

Ms. LaDrew is an expert at the intersection of beauty and health for African American women. She is a former divisional sales manager with Carson-Johnson products, which is a leader in hair care brands for black women. Additionally, Ms. LaDrew spent more than four years with the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program. Under that organization's banner, she assisted the founder in developing, launching and implementing all programs, coordinated the national tours and also produced the African American Men's Health & Empowerment Summits. All told, Ms. LaDrew helped to deliver health screenings to more than 25,000 men in 26 cities before stepping down in June 2011.

Spurred by her success in the arena of black men's health, Ms. LaDrew founded the Black BeautyShop Health Foundation, whose mission is to turn Black women's interest in beauty and personal care into opportunities for raising their awareness of how to prevent and manage disease. In addition to bringing health information into beauty shops, in 2012 the Beauty N Black Wellness Tour will sponsor free day-long health and beauty expos in Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; New York City; Oakland, CA; Richmond, VA; Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.

Susan Evans, MD, a nationally acclaimed dermatologist and media personality who serves as Ambassador for the initiative, said, "As a dermatologist, I know that skin is the window to overall health. I believe the Beauty N Black Wellness Tour will help Black women make the connection between external beauty and internal health." Toward that end, Dr. Evans will make personal appearances at events in Los Angeles and several cities during the tour.    

Source: Black BeautyShop Health Foundation