Sep. 24--Hair salons and barbershops are legendary for offering a psychiatrist's office-cum-confessional-cum-news service where people relax, bond and bare their souls on any topic that comes up.
A University of South Carolina group wants to add another topic to the list -- colon cancer.
"Why not just take it a step further and talk about health issues?" said Sheniqua Riley of Profile Barber Institute in Ladson, who recently helped train stylists on how to talk with clients about their health.
She is part of the Shop Talk Movement, which aims to help reduce colon cancer rates among African-Americans by recruiting hair-care professionals to talk with their clients about the disease.
The effort is sponsored by Charleston-based hair etc. magazine, USC Center for Colon Cancer Research, and the American Cancer Society. It is running in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville.
Previous beauty shop-based health initiatives in the state have focused on HIV, stroke and other medical conditions.
The 40 hairstylists and barbers who showed up for the meeting at The Big Apple historic building downtown were eager to learn what they could do.
So they weren't too put off when Frank Berger, director of the Center for Colon Cancer Research center greeted them with the question:
"How many bowel movements have you had today?"
That lovely conversation starter can lead to a discussion between stylists and clients about the health of their colons, and proper nutrition and the need to have a colonoscopy.
Black South Carolinians are diagnosed with and die from colorectal cancer at much greater rates than do whites. The death rate from colorectal cancer is 48 percent higher for black men than white men and 33 percent higher for black women than white women, according to 2000-2004 data from the National Cancer Institute.
The difference is partly because many black patients do not get screened early enough. If people wait until symptoms appear, they are more likely to have advanced cancer and a poor prognosis. Early screening and polyp removal can reduce the chance of having cancer by 90 percent.
Riley was hesitant the first time she brought up colon cancer while styling someone's hair. But soon others in the shop chimed in. Afterward, a male client told her he was inspired to get a colonoscopy.
"Being educated about different diseases and disorders and things like cancer is not an option anymore, it's a must," said Rodrick Samuels, a Shop Talk trainer who owns Profile Barber Institute, where Riley works.
Kimberly Diamond, a licensed cosmetologist, said she couldn't wait to start telling others what she learned from Riley, Samuels and other speakers at the training session.
"They left you thirsty, they left you on fire and excited," she said.
So excited, she volunteered to help the organizers in any way she could, and on her way home called all her cosmetologist friends and told them "Girl, you should have been there."
Diamond, who has a journalism degree and plans to earn her master's in education, is set to hand out "promise cards" to her clients, encouraging them to commit to talking to someone else about colon cancer, and getting screened themselves if they are at an appropriate age.
The American Cancer Society recommends that people start getting screened once they turn 50. For African-Americans, there are discussions about lowering the recommended age for first screenings to 45. Diamond, who works at Pynk Hair Studio in West Columbia, already talks with clients about eating properly and exercising and how that affects their health and their hair.
"I feel like we're hair doctors," she said.
She wants to add her own flair to the new program by doing something like handing out granola bars and bottles of water along with the commitment cards.
Diamond learned about the colon cancer project while visiting a friend's salon. Two sharply dressed men walked in and asked if they wanted to participate.
"What caught my attention was, he said it was free, and then he said it was for colon cancer awareness for African-Americans," she said. "A lot of people don't know it is 90 percent preventable, until they go and its too late."
Roger Brasley reels off the name of famous music stars whose hair he has styled -- Beyonce, Angie Stone, Monique and gospel artist Marvin Sapp. But what has him fired up now is reaching out to people in his community regarding colon cancer.
He heard about the program from a client, and later at a hair show earlier this year where Gerald Footman of hair etc. talked with about 2,000 attendees about colon cancer.
Since then, Brasley has talked with clients, his mother, his aunt and cousins about the disease.
He also plans to set up displays and hand out promise cards at the shop where he works, Dimensional Designs, and at a pageant later this year at his alma mater, Eau Clair High School.
Shop Talk coordinators will collect the promise cards later to find out how many people followed up on their pledge to get a colonoscopy and tell someone else about the disease.
They also hope to expand the project to include other types of cancer.
Reach Reid at (803) 771-8378. To see more of The State, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thestate.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The State, Columbia, S.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008 The State, Columbia, S.C.