Ten Thousand Cuts = Ten Thousand Bucks??? Has my mom, Shirley Young ever cut your hair? We estimated that in her nearly 50 years in the beauty industry Shirley A. Young gave 10,000 haircuts, most in the first 30 years! As Shirley’s knowledge of beauty and the industry expanded so did her spear of influence. She loved helping her customers but she also felt it important to help other salons and stylists gain knowledge, this way more people could look great and feel good! If she found a great hair product, she wanted to share it with everyone! With the help of a great team of people, she sold millions of dollars in beauty products! Clearly, she LOVES the beauty industry and HAIR! Ironically, at her favorite annual event, St. Baldrick’s many guests are bald. This event honors children battling cancer. Some bald guests are children, often robbed of their beautiful locks by the harsh drugs used to "save" their lives. Other guests arrive with full heads of hair but have their heads shaved bald, on stage! Often these guests raised thousands of dollars for childhood cancer research by agreeing to shave their heads and stand in solidarity with the kids impacted by cancer and chemotherapy. Shirley is adamant on this point… she does not like the thought of anyone going bald! Especially, one of the 175,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year. Shirley's young friend Michael lost all of his gorgeous dark, curly hair and later his life after a 3 year battle with childhood cancer. Michael was the best friend of Shirley’s grandchildren. At just 6 and 9 years old Ellie and Joel experienced the devastating grief childhood cancer often brings. Michael was six when he died and 13 years later we still wonder what life would be like if Michael were here. Sadly, many other families are asking themselves the same question because cancer took their child’s life too. St. Baldrick’s Foundation hopes to change all this by being a volunteer driven charity committed to funding the most promising research and find cures for childhood cancers. For eight years, Shirley has been a St. Baldrick’s volunteer. Helping Barbara Zobian, president of Candlelighters NYC, host a St. Baldrick’s event at the NYC Boathouse in Central Park. This year to celebrate a long and productive career Shirley hopes to raise $10,000 for the kids. She knows she will need your help! After all, if you want to accomplish big goals you surround yourself with good people. That is certainly the only way a 50 year career becomes a reality and she is so thankful for all the fabulous, friends, family, clients, stylist, and business owners that have surrounded her all these years! When a child is battling cancer, the same is true. It will take many good people to surround them so that they can live long and productive lives. Please consider giving a donation to help toward Shirley's $10,000 goal. She will truly cherish your involvement in this cause as she enters a new phase in finding life’s beauty, because kids can't fight cancer alone!