Welcome OPHA members!
What is Sty-Lives?
Led by two medical students, with the support of Save Your Skin Foundation, Styling Hair & Saving Lives (Sty-Lives) aims to empower and educate hairstylists and barbers to detect suspicious skin lesions on the ears, face and scalp of their clients. Participating salons and barbershops are provided with training materials and resources and are taught how to detect suspicious spots. The purpose of the project is to help facilitate communication between the client and their healthcare provider, leading to earlier detection of potentially dangerous skin cancers.
How to Participate?
- All hair professionals in Canada are eligible to participate. To get started fill out the form below to register.
- You will be contacted within 3 business days by a member of the Sty-Lives team to discuss next steps.
- Some training materials and resources will be sent to you. Once you have received them and completed the short training, you will be ready to get started detecting lesions!
The Sty-Lives OPHA Challenge
In May 2022, Save Your Skin Foundation partnered with the Ontario Professional Hairstylist Association to launch the Sty-Lives OPHA Challenge. The challenge aimed to have 200 hair professionals registered for Sty-Lives by May 31, the last day of Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout the challenge, we posted our progress using our Sty-Lives comb thermometer.
We’re happy to say that by May 31st, we had successfully reached our goal. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need your help anymore The best way to support the initiative is by registering if you’re a hair professional and helping spread the word if you’re not. The next time you get your hair cut, let your hairstylist know about this free program and how they could help save someone’s life simply by watching a 5 minute video.
Why should hair professionals get involved?
- Skin cancer is the most common of all cancers.
- 1 in 6 Canadians born in the 1990s will get skin cancer in their lifetimes.
- There are more new cases of skin cancer each year than the number of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers COMBINED.
- Skin cancers that are located on the scalp, neck, or face are associated with higher rates of recurrence and are often more aggressive.
- Unfortunately, these high-risk areas are often difficult for patients to detect via self-examination especially when they are located on the scalp and back of the neck.
- While performing the various tasks related to their job, hairdressers happen to inspect these high-risk skin areas all the time. One study found that the majority of hairdressers already examine their clients’ scalp for lesions, regardless of being asked to do so.
The sooner a skin cancer is detected, the earlier it can be treated and the fewer chances of it spreading or causing extensive damage or death.
Watch our training video
Get Support
If you or someone you know has received a skin cancer diagnosis, contact Save Your Skin Foundation for 1-on-1 personalized support.
Save Your Skin Foundation (SYSF) is a patient-led not-for-profit organization dedicated to the fight against non-melanoma skin cancers, melanoma, and ocular melanoma through education, advocacy, and awareness initiatives across Canada. SYSF provides a community of oncology patients and caregiver support throughout the entire continuum of care, from prevention and diagnosis to survivorship.
For more information on this initiative, contact:
Marianne Gagnon
Email: marianne@saveyourskin.ca
Phone: 250-256-6561
