Organizes help for women in shelters and rehab centres
By Lorianna De Giorgio

BEAUTY more than skin deep but makeovers help women overcome stereotypes, says Ann Roche who works with over 100 volunteers to put this philosophy into effect.

With the idea that all women, regardless of their backgrounds or the difficult situations they might have faced, deserve to feel and look beautiful, Ann Roche has made it her life’s mission to help the often forgotten women in society.

With tubes of lipstick, containers of eye shadow, blush and hair brushes, Roche has been involved with two programs — Look At Me Now (LAMN) and The Beauty Night Society (BNS) — to show the world that beauty is not just skin deep.

“Being in the beauty industry, I have done makeovers for friends who were just coming out of an abusive relationship,” says Roche, who works with over 100 volunteers in both programs. “The makeover helped them recognize their own inner beauty and showed a different side to who they are.”

In June 2002, the Beaches resident created LAMN, a non-profit program that takes place each March on International Women’s Day. The event gives women from shelters and rehabilitation centres a chance to get their hair done and a makeover at a salon in the city.

Also in 2002, Vancouver actress Caroline MacGillivary, who created the first BNS in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, approached Roche to develop a Toronto chapter.

Since then, both programs have flourished into city-wide events, with LAMN involving many hair salons across the city, and with two to three BNS events taking place each month.

With BNS, volunteers go into shelters and do the makeup, haircuts, styling and relaxation massage for the women who live there.

While the process might seem only skin deep, the attention paid to these women helps them more than any makeup brush ever could.

“It’s great that they get their hair coloured or cut, but what is more important is the attention these women get,” says Roche, adding that at least 80 percent of the women involved have been physically or sexually abused.

“Many of them benefit from the positive, therapeutic touch that they receive.”

Roche, a hair colourist and who has worked 20-plus years in the industry, recalls helping an HIV-positive woman, who confided her fears of abandonment if she told her family she had AIDS.

“I would like to do so much for these women,” Roche says. “I wanted to desperately find a solution for all her problems. Each woman I work with has helped me recognize that that could be me. I am very fortunate in my life to be here and not suffer the damaging stigmas that these women face.”

Roche says she hopes the two programs will break down the stereotypes of the women and children in these shelters.

“The reason I’m here is to dampen the stigmas. I want people to recognize that no one is infallible and any of us could be in the situations that these women are in.”

In the past, Roche has worked with several women’s shelters, including the Jean Tweed Centre, Grant House and the Red Door Shelter.

Roche, who runs both programs without being paid, says the LAMN and BNS programs will not just change how these women see themselves but just as important, how the rest of the society sees them.

“My hope is that with Beauty Night’s participation within the community, we help in the healing process of our women, rebuilding their self-esteem and confidence, aiding them to reintegrate within society,” Roche says. “In turn it offers them the opportunity to become productive and successful members of our community.”

Volunteers are always needed. Contact Roche via BNS’s website at www.beautynight.org.


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