Sarah Zebb always knew she was a talented hairstylist, but it took a tragedy for her to apply her gifts the way she knew she wanted to.
“I have been doing hair since I was 20 years old, but I wanted to find something more meaningful,” she said.
After she lost a friend to cancer in her 30s, Zebb chose to use her work to care for cancer patients young and old.
“It is not just cutting hair – it is more than that,” she said. “I wanted to give back something to remember the people in my life.”
Zebb, now the owner of Therapy Salon at Rancho Shopping Center in Los Altos, is scheduled to host the “Kiss Away Cancer” fundraiser for Breast Cancer Awareness Month 4-6 p.m. Thursday. There will be a raffle and refreshments as well as the full range of Therapy’s Aveda beauty products. All proceeds will support Cancer CAREpoint in San Jose.
The fundraiser began in 2012 and raised approximately $5,000 last year, according to Zebb.
“I know it is a little, but it is a lot for them,” she said. “I wish I could do more, and I try.”
Color me pink
The fundraiser is not the only service Zebb provides for cancer patients. She also participates in El Camino Hospital’s “Look Good, Feel Better” program and does hair for juvenile cancer patients at Kaiser Permanente Hospital.
“I am sure the hospitals could do it, but the patients want someone like me,” said the longtime hairdresser. “When they are losing their hair … they feel like a different person. This makes them feel like themselves again.”
Zebb also sources and styles wigs for cancer patients. Because wigs can run from $300 to $400, she looks for donated items and connects people who want to donate their hair to others looking for wigs.
But the October fundraiser is her biggest event.
“We do pink hair extensions, shoulder and neck massages, and makeup if someone wants,” Zebb said.
Zebb’s family, who came to the United States from Iraq when she was in high school, will bring Assyrian snacks (Zebb warned that “I have a feeling my sister is going to bring everything!”). Others in the community, including several schoolchildren, will bring their own baked goods.
Zebb noted that she couldn’t stage the event without her staff, including Paige Madrid helping with the raffle.
“I have an amazing team,” she said. “They all help out, and I couldn’t do it without them.”
Sarah’s daughters Sasha and Alina will don pink wigs and help out around the salon.
Helping hands
Zebb’s work has made an impact in the community. Jennifer Bridgman remembers how integral Zebb was to her family’s fight with cancer.
“Soon after meeting Sarah, my own mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and began chemotherapy treatment,” Bridgman recalled. “When it was time for my mom to shave her head, she and I went together to Therapy Salon; Sarah’s calm and compassionate demeanor helped us through a difficult life event. She then gifted my mom with a beautiful wig that allowed my mom confidence and some normalcy in the months ahead.”
Zebb has many clients who do not have cancer. Therapy Salon is bustling due to the skills of her hairdressers and her commitment to using all-natural beauty products. But she purchased her Los Altos salon in 2013 so that she could care for suffering clients.
“It is not about making a fortune, it is about giving something back,” she said.
If she has clients who are uncomfortable having their head shaved during the day in a busy place, Zebb opens the salon after-hours. She could not do so with a rented chair at another salon, she explained.
Zebb said she knew she wanted her own salon before she figured out what to name it.
“It took us a long time to find a name,” she said, adding that they were circling several options before her daughter, Sasha, chose the name Therapy Salon.
“It should be called Therapy,” Sasha said, “because you’re always helping.”
Therapy Salon is located at 660 Fremont Ave., Los Altos. For more information, call 948-5343 or visit therapysalon.net.
