Living Viet

Hair for hope

The program "Hair given -away, hope stays" providing free hair services for breast cancer patients organized by the Breast Cancer Network Vietnam (BCNV) in Ho Chi Minh City has given strength to patients who are fighting against the severe cancer.
It is the first time that BCNV has organized an event which provides free haircuts and hairstyling services for breast cancer patients. Through this event, BCVN wishes to bring joy and beauty to female patients after the struggles they have had with the terminal illness. In this program, the patients get haircuts and receive hairstyling advice from the professional hair stylist Dmytro Guchko, along with advice on how to take care of hair after a cancer treatment. For those whose hair is not long enough, the program also supplies wigs with different styles.

BCNV was founded in 2013 from an idea of a cancer patient named Khanh Thuong. The network has since supported thousands of patients, focusing on psychological, mental, and cognitive education and helping patients) have a better quality of life. It has held thirteen seminars on breast cancer, carried out many media campaigns, donated wigs to hundreds of patients who no longer have hair because of radiation treatment, and given out many customized bras. 


Wigs sent to the program for patients with breast cancer.


The program takes place at the A CUT ABOVE Asia salon,
90/10 Quoc Huong, Thao Dien ward, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City.


Hairstylist Dmytro Guchko gives a free haircut to a breast cancer patient. 


A patient has a facial treatment at the salon.


A patient is happy having free hair styling. 


A patient enjoy a facial treatment.


A wig for a breast cancer patient. 


The hair stylist helps a breast cancer patient to find a good hair style. 

The program "Hair given-away, hope stays" is a festival for patients with breast cancer. 

On average, every year, there are more than 500 people who donate their hair directly at events and nearly 2,000 wigs sent to the wig library. The wig library system is located at five hospitals across. This service brings hope, confidence, beauty, and courage to the patients during their cancer treatments.

The BCNV believes that each donated wig brings hope and blessings, and asserts that women have the right to be beautiful and to love themselves under any circumstances.

“When participating in the program, wearing a wig on my head helps me feel more confident. I do not have to endure any stares at my bald head resulting from the lengthy chemotherapy sessions,” Ho Thi Chau, 64, who has had breast cancer for 7 years that metastasized to the lungs, said.

The program includes many activities such as free haircuts for female breast cancer patients, free quality prosthetic bras, Bioptron hyperlight therapy for 20 patients, hair donations from the community and the display of making wigs from natural hair. These help provide the community with a transparent view of the wig library’s activities, photos and the displays of the “pink warriors” who are female breast cancer patients.

Dmytro Guchko from Portugal is known as a professional hair stylist for football players, basketball players and hip-hop singers. In a haircut for football player Cristiano Ronaldo, he was given a shirt signed by members of the Portuguese national team. He then sold this shirt for 200,000 US dollars to donate and raise funds for a boy with cancer in Ukraine. Dmytro has chosen Vietnam as a place to settle down and is now the owner of the A CUT ABOVE Asia salon - one of the most professional hair salons in Ho Chi Minh City.
 
By Thong Hai

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