A Good Hair Day for Orangewood

Charity--not vanity--brought more than 50 women to the Toni & Guy Hairdressing salon in San Juan Capistrano on Sunday to be pampered and fussed over by makeup artists, hairstylists and photographers.

Toni & Guy staged the day of beauty to raise money for the Orangewood Children’s Foundation. Clients paid $100 each to have their hair cut and poufed, their faces painted and powdered and their new looks immortalized by a glamour photographer. Because all services were donated by the salon and area businesses, the benefit was expected to net $5,000 for the foundation, which supports the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange for abused and neglected youth.

Vanity Fare

Except for clients toting flutes of champagne, this looked like a typical day at a beauty salon. Some women sat in barber chairs for haircuts. Others allowed makeup artists to paint their lips and eyes in the neutral tones that are all the rage. Throughout the day, the whir of blow dryers and smell of hair spray filled the salon.

“First I’ll have my haircut, then I’m going to have liposuction,” Lin Cullum, a San Juan Capistrano resident, joked as she waited to have her hair done.

“We’re going home new women. And if I have one more glass of champagne, they can do anything they want.”

Kathy Esser of San Juan Capistrano came on behalf of Orangewood. Her daughter Autumn Esser works in the salon.

“I’m here to learn how to put my makeup on the proper way,” she said. “The last time I went to a makeup artist, they painted my lips dark red. My husband took one look at me and kept walking.”

While clients had their make-overs, models from the nearby Anmar Boutique wandered around the salon showing off spring styles and Joni Lawrence, a.k.a. the Jewelry Queen, sold her line of delicate necklaces.

Inner Beauty

The idea for a beauty benefit began after Regina Frykman, Toni & Guy manager-partner, invited some of her friends and neighbors for an after-hours beauty bash several months ago. Vikki Vargas, event chairwoman, decided a beauty get-together would make a unique fund-raiser.

“We’re trying to expand and refurbish Orangewood, and that can’t all be done with black-tie dinners,” said Vargas, a television news reporter.

Seventeen stylists, eight makeup artists and six assistants from all of the local Toni & Guy salons (including Newport Beach, Long Beach and Irvine) gave up their day off to volunteer their services.

“I have a 1-year-old niece, so I want to support anything that has to do with children,” said Kim Putnam, makeup artist, as she wielded a makeup brush. “Children are my favorite cause.”

Among those attending were Gene Howard, the foundation’s executive director; Frank and Laurel Chirico, Toni & Guy partners; Lisa Hughes, foundation board member; Virginia Ramsey, Lynda Hoskins; Linda Damen Anderson; Cathrine Reinke; Lucinda Flaskerud; Ingrin Trosper; and Elaine Harrington.