Business is Booming — Unfortunately
Saundra Shapiro is the first to tell you she’s had too much experience in shaving women’s heads. In the nine years that she’s been offering her services to women undergoing cancer treatments at Compassionate Beauty, her oncology boutique and spa in Calgary, she has shaved thousands of heads. There have been tears— lots of tears — but laughter, hope, and determination, too.
Of course, the first time was unforgettable, for both the shaver and the shaved. It was also more than a bit surreal. The setting was a brightly decorated hair salon, filled with toys, a Barbie Jeep chair and pint-sized furniture designed to make a kid’s first professional haircut a fun, not scary, experience. In an attempt to dial down the kid factor that day, Saundra, then the owner/operator of Beaners Fun Cuts for Kids, dimmed the lights and nixed the usual Raffi soundtrack in favour of gentle mood music. She was ready for Ghia, her only customer that Sunday, a day the store was usually closed.
Ghia was the mother of four young children, all regular Beaners clients. She didn’t know where else to turn when her hair started to fall out due to her chemotherapy drugs. Her usual salon was out of the question. Who wanted to be surrounded by women grooming their tresses while hers fell in clumps to the ground, her scalp exposed for all to see? Having her husband shave her head at home would have been an emotional and painful experience. After listening to Ghia recount her dilemma, Saundra volunteered her services.
“It was a huge experience, for both of us,” Sandra recalls of that day in 1996. “I felt grateful that I was able to help. And I remember thinking, ‘Someday, I’m going to do something to help other women in this position.’”
The seed that was to become Compassionate Beauty had been sown. It wasn’t to take root until nine years later, when cancer hit far closer to home.
Louise and Saundra, the bride and maid of honour, at Louise’s 1988 wedding celebrating her second marriage
Two months to the day after Saundra Shapiro was born in Montreal, her parents’ best friends, the Granofskys, welcomed their daughter, Louise, into the world. The two little girls grew up a few doors down from each other on the same street. They learned to walk and talk, giggled a lot, and shared secrets. They both married young, in the same year. They welcomed baby daughters, also within the same year. Each of their marriages soon ended, but the friends were there for each other, young single mothers now, each supporting the other in all they did, all they endured. They were BFFs, long before the term existed.
"You only get one best friend in life,” says Saundra. “Louise was mine. There’s something special about childhood friendships. They’re unconditional and nonjudgmental. We could talk about anything and everything (and I mean everything). She was the one I’d call to laugh, the one I’d call when I cried."
Even after Saundra left Montreal for Calgary in 1982, the pair kept in touch by phone and through regular visits. Each year, without fail, they celebrated their birthdays together. Eventually Louise remarried, had a second child, and was content in her role as a stay-at-home mom.
Beaners Fun Cuts for Kids open for business Meanwhile, Saundra discovered her entrepreneurial calling after a particularly disastrous first professional hair-cut suffered by her two-year-old daughter Erica. After leaving the shop, haircut unfinished, her child in tears, Saundra realized that she could do a much better job herself in running such an enterprise. She envisioned a fun place, with coin-operated rides to entertain and distract the kids, and so the concept of Beaners was born. She started with one salon in 1987, and later expanded, opening at several locations before deciding to franchise the operation in 1996.
It was while helping prospective franchisees put their business plans together that her idea of pursuing an MBA took root. After nine years running Beaners, she was confident in her business skills, she says. “But when I started dealing with people who were about to commit their life savings, I realized that I needed a stronger business foundation. The degree would also boost my credibility in dealings with bankers, lawyers and prospective franchisees.”
Louise was also an inspiration. She’d completed an undergraduate degree in sociology at McGill, then years later decided to return to complete her master’s in anthropology. From Louise’s experience, Saundra knew that hard work was in store, but also that the benefits would make it all worthwhile. She chose Queen’s for her MBA partly because of its reputation. “If I was going to put those letters after my name, I wanted them to be from a really credible school,” she says. An added incentive was the opportunity to use Beaners as the subject of her assignments, which she did at every opportunity, thanks to QSB’s support of entrepreneurial ventures.
After graduating in 2001, Saundra sold Beaners, which had grown to 12 franchise locations. She took a break to recharge after an intense two years balancing her studies and business. She bought a cottage in Kelowna, B.C., and luxuriated in having the time to contemplate her next business move. Not surprisingly, Louise was among her first visitors. So impressed was Louise with the area that within three months of her visit, she moved from Montreal to settle there with her family (daughter Samara, her second husband Don and their son Julian). Kelowna offered a fresh start, maybe even a reward to mark the five-year anniversary since Louise’s successful treatment for cervical cancer. Together again after so many years, the best friends treasured their time in Kelowna.
Saundra on the iconic pink couch at Compassionate Beauty, May 2014
Saundra was at home in Calgary in October of 2003 when she got the call. Louise shared the news that her cancer had returned. The treatment for her aggressive cancer would be six cycles of chemotherapy, a regimen that would result in total hair loss. Saundra prepared for the inevitable by selecting a beautiful wig that would best resemble Louise’s thick brown hair. Scant weeks later came another call, a tearful one. Louise’s hair was falling out. Saundra packed her clippers and the wig, and was on her way the same day.
Shaving Louise’s head was a labour of love, but it was just the start of a journey the friends took together. During her twice monthly visits from Calgary, Saundra soon learned that there was a scarcity of services for women in Louise’s situation. The big-box medical supply store they visited was intimidating and sterile — no place for a women in an immune-compromised and emotional state. A facial or a massage would have been welcome, but Louise felt too vulnerable to expose her bald head. Many massage therapists were neither comfortable nor qualified to give massages to patients undergoing cancer treatments because of health and safety concerns. Throughout their time together, the friends talked about what a business serving women undergoing cancer treatments could offer: wigs, hats and scarves; safe, specialized spa treatments, such as facials and massages; cosmetic tattooing of eyebrows and aureoles; and lingerie and prosthetics for women who’ve undergone mastectomies. The atmosphere would be warm and welcoming. Staff members would be empathetic, and would receive specialized training enabling them to care for each client as they would their mother, sister or friend.
Louise’s journey ended September 21, 2004, eleven months after her cancer had returned. Saundra found purpose in her grief, convinced that the best tribute to Louise would be the launch of Compassionate Beauty. The friends had chosen the name together, agreeing that it pretty much said it all. Saundra signed the lease for a retail space in December and opened the doors on May 2, 2005, what would have been Louise’s 46th birthday. Louise’s picture is displayed prominently; Saundra’s eight staff members know her story well. Every year, the team celebrates the store’s anniversary and Louise’s birthday with Montreal-style bagels.
It’s not as if Saundra keeps a list of “most emotionally draining head shaves.” If she did, though, the number two place would be held by her mom. Faigel Shapiro has endured cancer four times in recent years: breast and lung cancer and lymphoma (twice). Even after all Saundra’s years of experience with her many clients, shaving her own mother’s head was gut-wrenching. “The only thing that enabled me to get through it was the look of comfort and trust in my mother’s eyes,” Saundra says.
Faigel’s treatment is continuing and she still visits the spa, grateful in an intensely personal way that her daughter has chosen this path. Her daughter says that the path chose her. “The bad haircut that led to Beaners, then my Queen’s experience, and all that happened with Louise — all led me to this. I don’t think I’d be doing what I’m doing if all those things hadn’t happened.”
Proud Mom Faigel Shapiro with Saundra at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society charity run in 2006
The advertising campaign that announced Compassionate Beauty’s launch carried the tagline, “Unfortunately, we’re open.” It made Saundra cry when she saw it for the first time. How wonderful it felt finally to be open; how terrible that so many women would need the service.
In its nine years, the business has served more than 11,000 clients and has grown more than 22%, year over year. A Vancouver franchise opened in September 2013. Toronto and Surrey, B.C., franchises are in development, with Toronto set to open this fall. The company’s website has a list of ten other locations, from Victoria to Halifax, available to potential franchisees.
“I truly get that, as a businesswoman, I should be proud that our sales are growing every year. But to know it’s growing, because cancer is so prevalent, and so many women are afflicted, is very sad,” Saundra says, her voice trailing off.
“I’ll be damned if anyone tells me that I’m here for any other reason than to help people,” she adds firmly. “It’s not about making a living, it’s about making a difference. The day they cure cancer, I’ll be the first one jumping up and down, closing all my stores.”