'I felt very pretty': ABQ salon hosts makeover day for childhood cancer patients

After being diagnosed with leukemia at age 11, it only took eight months for Genesis Torres’ hair to fall out due to treatments. She was eventually able to grow it back, but a cancer relapse at 15 would cause her to lose her hair again. Over the past two years, she’s been steadily growing her hair back, but has admittedly been hesitant to do any sort of styling with it.

“I don’t know how to style it or what to do with it,” she said. “I’ve always had short hair, so I’ve just showered and then left it.”

Now 17, Torres’ hair is shoulder length and even sports a custom black-and-blond dye job that she did herself, but she still was reluctant to really style her hair.

That was until she heard about an exciting opportunity through the Children’s Cancer Fund of New Mexico. The nonprofit was set to partner with Blo Blow Dry Bar, a salon in Northeast Albuquerque on Sunday, for a hair and makeup workshop for 16 children dealing with cancer.

The idea to hold the event came from Abby Max, a board member at the Children’s Cancer Fund of New Mexico, who was having her hair styled at the salon one day when she decided to ask the store’s manager about collaborating for a future event to benefit their patients.

“They said ‘yes, we’d love to help out with this population,’” she said.

Max, who was inspired to join the cancer fund after her own daughter’s battle with childhood cancer, said it’s important to give these children an opportunity to participate in events that will help take their minds off their situation. “We do a lot of events that are fun and making them feel amazing, that’s everything we want for them,” she said.

The hair and makeup work for all 16 patients was paid for by the cancer fund.

When Torres walked into the Blo Blow Dry Bar, she was joined by fellow cancer patient, 15-year-old Evangelina Pino. Both girls smiled, laughed and talked while the stylists worked. Like Torres, Pino had been diagnosed with leukemia and has been battling the disease for the past year.

“I really didn’t realize I had cancer until I couldn’t go to school anymore,” Pino said. “All of my friends from school stopped talking to me, but I was able to become friends with the (hospital) staff and the kids there, and I really met this family that I didn’t know I had.”

Pino is set to finish her treatments in May and is optimistic about her future. As for her hair, she shared Torres’ concern that it might be too short to really do anything with. But she was quickly reassured by both Torres and her stylists that she would look great.

Torres’ hair was done first. As her stylist turned her chair around, a look of surprise and joy washed over her face as she let out a gasp. “(My hair) has volume back into it, and it looks hydrated,” she said. “After losing my hair twice, it made me feel very pretty.”

Pino smiled broadly as she watched Torres admire her hair in the mirror and couldn’t wait to see her own when it was finally done. Another person wearing a giant smile was Blo Blow Dry Bar owner Jessica Corothers. “Our mission at Blo Blow Dry Bar is to make people feel beautiful and if these young ladies leave today feeling beautiful, then it’s mission accomplished,” she said.

It was certainly mission accomplished for Torres, Pino and 17-year-old leukemia survivor Naturelle Benavidez, who got her full hair and makeup done on Sunday. As she walked out of the salon, she took one last look into the mirror and said she’d never felt better.

“I feel so beautiful,” she said. “I really love it.”

Photos from a salon day for childhood cancer patients