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CREATIVE FUNDING IDEA

You've done your research and have decided that choosing Karen Peterik to provide a Freedom Wigs Vacuum Prosthesis for you or your loved one is absolutely the right decision in solving long-term hair loss. The only obstacle left is figuring out a way to pay for it!

Permit me to introduce you to the Spaulding Family and their very loving, creative method of raising the money to buy their 15 yr.-old daughter the best quality wig made. I have a feeling that they may provide the inspiration and template to many others of you in need!

Toni Spaulding created a website at no cost and set up a Wig Sponsor Fund for her daughter, Elizabeth. The site, found at: www.freewebs.com/wigsponsorfund, tells Elizabeth's story of hair loss with adorable photos of her growing up with and without her hair. It explains why she needs to have this custom-made vacuum prosthesis and how it works. The family has just raised $1000 in one week!

Bravo! I think people are more than willing to show their compassion and generosity when it is needed. Much thanks to the Spaulding Family for allowing me to share your brilliant idea with others!

INAUGURAL "BALD GIRLS DO LUNCH" IN CHICAGO

On a crisp yet sunny Saturday afternoon in late February, I and 10 other local women with alopecia areata had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Thea Chassin, founder of the year-old "Bald Girls Do Lunch®" not-for-profit support network to her first Chicago event.  We were comfortably seated around a large table at the ever-popular Maggiano's restaurant in Oak Brook, Illinois that provided the backdrop for one Italian delicacy after another.  It was hard to believe that the cost of our ticket was enough to cover all of the great food we enjoyed as well as having donated an equal share to her organization.

If you haven't heard about Bald Girls Do Lunch yet, allow me to introduce you to an amazing cause and an equally amazing woman.  Thea is one of the best advocates for women living with alopecia areata that I have ever met and every time I communicate with Thea I feel inspired to go out there and spread the gospel that she preaches:  Women with alopecia can empower themselves by not only learning to accept this condition but by learning how to talk openly about it to others. In Thea's words, "We are the vehicle to help women find each other, give each other resources and boost resilience.  Too many women are floating along feeling less than complete. Bald Girls Do Lunch® helps them get their oars back in the water and achieve greater contentment."

These lunches are an opportunity for women to choose to wear a hat, a scarf, a hairpiece or nothing at all on their heads.  The freedom to explore these options in a welcoming and understanding environment is something most people have never experienced.  In fact, many have never even met another person with alopecia - and believe me, we're out there!  If it is ever possible for our obsessed-with-hair-conscious society to not look more than twice at a bald woman, Thea will be the one to break the ground for the rest of us. 

You owe it to yourself and to our collective cause to visit Thea's web site at www.baldgirlsdolunch.org.  Write to her and ask to be added to her mailing list so that the next time she brings her infectious optimism, energy and spirit to your area, you will immediately clear your schedule to attend a lunch.  She is also accepting donations that will help her create new and exciting events like finding sponsors for a "Day of Beauty" and "Makeovers" at salons across the country patterned after the nation’s first ever “Alopecia Areata Day of Beauty in New York City”.  Imagine spending a day meeting others with alopecia and updating your look by experts in the beauty industry.  Sounds like fun to me!

Thea Chassin and Karen Peterik
Bald Girls Do Lunch at Maggiano's Restaurant in Oak Brook, Illinois
 February 23, 2008.

National Alopecia Areata Foundation
International Conference

The 22nd National Alopecia Areata Foundation International Conference was held in Arlington, Virginia from June 28th through July 1 bringing together people from all over the world that have been affected by this auto-immune skin disease.

The event was able to capitalize on its proximity to Capitol Hill by coordinating personal visits to the U.S. Senators and Representatives in order to educate them about the special needs of individuals with alopecia areata, in specific, the need for more research and insurance industry recognition to the extent that they accept claims for hair prosthetics.

NAAF did an amazing job of informing and entertaining people ranging from, kids, tweens and teen camps to adult sessions on allergies & diet w/alopecia, relationship issues, being a parent of a child with AA, and self-esteem building. They also had sessions for those who want to learn more about the different types of hair prostheses and even a session for those who don't want to cover their heads at all! I say, "Go to one and you'll know if it's an experience you will want to repeat every year or every 5 years." You won't be sorry! Hope to see you next year in Louisville, Kentucky!