Agoura Salons Support Cancer Recovery

Lupe Guthrie, founder and owner of Therapeutic Skin Care on Agoura Road, understands the journey women with cancer take. She too is a cancer survivor and hopes her experience can help others along that road. "I know what a woman goes through.  It's a shocking situation really, and I understand.  I am so happy that we can speak the same language."

Guthrie, an esthetician, licensed massage therapist and longtime local business owner, is a volunteer for Look Good…  Feel Better (LGFB), a program that provides free beauty products and personal care tips to women with cancer. It was created by the National Personal Care Products Council and is coordinated by the American Cancer Society. 

The council came up with the idea to donate products from its member companies in 1989, at which point it approached the American Cancer Society.  The two groups then approached the National Cosmetology Association, forming a three-way partnership. 

LGFB educates women about to expect during treatment and guides them on other matters such as what "compromised skin" means in practical terms and how to choose and style a wig or turban. The women receive a  gift box containing $400 worth of donated products to help give them hope.

"The effects of radiation and chemotherapy change cells, [which in turn] changes skin and hair texture," Guthrie explained as she tended the reception area of her cozy day spa.

Guthrie is not the only Agoura Hills participant in the nationwide LGFB program. Stylist and salon owner Gila Aframian of Paris Cut Hair Design on Kanan Road also donates her time to helping women understand the changes to their bodies and how to take care of themselves accordingly.

Aframian attended her first training class on May 20, and was moved by the experience of seeing women excited to open their gift boxes of products.  "It's like they forgot, you know, for two hours, they forgot about the disease...  I felt lucky to be there to witness it," she said.

Aframian first recognized the power of assisting with personal care when she was a 19-year old stylist in her native Israel, volunteering at hospitals and hospices.  She found the opportunity to contribute again when her husband and salon co-owner Fariborz Aframian learned about LGFB at the Long Beach International Salon and Spa Expo earlier this year.

Guthrie, the first Agoura Hills volunteer esthetician in the program, came to LGFB in a unique way.  Guthrie had met the American Cancer Society's Pam Brady as a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient seeking information. Brady, who manages LGFB for the region that includes Agoura Hills, then suggested Guthrie get involved in the program.  Now Guthrie also serves as a Spanish-language translator at monthly LGFB workshops held at Los Robles Hospital, Simi Valley Hospital and the Wellness Center.

In addition to administering the LGFB program in this area, the local American Cancer Society provides a multitude of services.  Brady's volunteers drive people to and from doctor's appointments and call new patients to check in on their emotional and physical progress

Cancer patients in LGFB appreciate the volunteers' efforts, Brady said. "They always say the products are nice, but the companionship was wonderful."

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