Hair Fashion Show Raises Awareness and Funds for Homeless Shelter
Bella Bethesda Salon hosted a hair show on Thursday night that generated funds and awareness for a D.C.-based nonprofit that helps low-income and homeless women. It also offered a glimpse into hairstyles over the decades.
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A stylish crowd gathered in Bethesda on Thursday night to see a century of hair fads brought to life, and to help a nonprofit that provides shelter for women.
The Bella Bethesda Salon hosted the event, a runway hair show, at The Ballroom just off River Road. Proceeds from the party went to help N Street Village, a nonprofit shelter and multi-service center for low-income and homeless women in Washington, D.C.
"Being a women-owned business" was motivation for the salon's two co-owners deciding to host an event showcasing their stylists' talents while benefiting a local nonprofit, said Stacy Dabney Ramirez.
The salon had been preparing since June for the event and meeting every Wednesday since September to perfect all the details, she said.
For an admission price of $20 in advance and $30 at the door, the party was generous and opulent, with more than one place to pick up a glass of wine or hors d'oeuvres. Low lighting showed off the venue's glass chandeliers.
Tables along one wall displayed hairstyles of each decade, from the pincurled Prohibition era to the teased-and-sprayed 1980s. At one station, a stylist used a straightening iron to create loose, glossy waves on a volunteer.
Local fashion fans and friends of the salon's staff and owners milled about the ballroom, nibbling on brightly colored cupcakes and caprese-salad skewers while disc jockeys filled the room with dance music.
Then the runway show began, transforming the ballroom into a high-fashion catwalk.
There was a beehive, a Twiggy-style pixie cut, a sleek bob and a spiky mohawk. Disco queens and hipster dudes shared the runway, demonstrating how styles have changed and influenced current trends in hair.
Models included clients of the salon, as well as friends and family of salon employees, Dabney Ramirez said. Some of the models were fitted with extensions; others got haircuts or color applied to their locks before the show.
More than 200 tickets were sold, Dabney Ramirez said, adding that the salon hoped to raise at least $5,000 for N Street Village that night.
But one of the most important goals for the evening -- on top of providing a fun display of hairstyles and how history influences the present -- was to "make people aware" of homelessness, she said.
