Growing up in South Philly and then the Northeast, Theresa Byrd always loved styling hair — she had her first clients in middle school. By the time she got to Howard University, where she had plans to become a pediatrician, she still held on to her love of hair. “On Friday nights, my dorm turned into a salon,” she says.
Across town, growing up in West Oak Lane, lived Jennifer Boisseau, who also loved hair. “I would practice hairstyling with my Crimp ’N Curl Cabbage Patch Kid,” she says with a laugh. She also had the good fortune to have not one but two godmothers who were hairstylists.
“Kids tell me how they want their hair to look; they show me pictures; we can put extensions in. It brightens their day.” — Jennifer Boisseau, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
But it was years later, during the pandemic — and unbeknownst to them — that the two women’s paths crossed, as they were simultaneously enrolled in cosmetology school — via Zoom; they’d both decided to pursue the training they’d always longed for, despite originally taking more traditional, academic paths. Then, in 2022, they finally met in-person — when they became colleagues at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), working in salon services.
Together, the two women have become an invaluable resource at CHOP, dedicated to improving the physical and emotional well-being of children and their families.
A shining light
It was early in their tenure when the neurology team called Boisseau and Byrd, asking if they could help a teen patient who needed an EEG (a scan of her brain); Boisseau and Byrd were not only instrumental in patiently and gently removing the adhesive from the young patient’s scalp and washing and styling her hair, but they quickly bonded with her over her dreams of becoming a hairstylist some day, too. The women provided her with a mannequin on which to practice — an activity that also happened to help the patient restore her manual dexterity. “Her aunt, who was her guardian, told us it was the happiest she’d been in months,” Byrd says. “It was just an amazing moment.”
As that patient declined and, ultimately, passed, Boisseau and Byrd were heartbroken.
“We were so sad, and just trying to push through,” Byrd says. They decided to let that experience drive them to help improve and standardize various hair and scalp processes, and to continue to research everything they could to help patients. “We are total hair nerds,” both women — proudly — say.
A sense of control
“When you’re a kid in the hospital, there are so many things you can’t control,” Boisseau says. “But hair is the one thing you can. Kids can tell me how they want their hair to look; they show me pictures; we can put extensions in. It brightens their day.”
Yekaterina Marchuk is a certified child life specialist and family clinical supervisor at CHOP. Her role is to provide psychosocial support to patients — preparation, education and normalization to get them through their hospitalization and help them and their families. “We work to make sure that when a child comes here, they feel comfortable. Our core philosophy is that play is a child’s work — they need to have opportunities to play,” she says. “We’re constantly thinking of ways to make sure that they’re still feeling connected even though they may need to be in the hospital.”
“I love what I do, I love that I’ve been able to take all of my life skills and put them into a job that I even knew existed.” — Theresa Byrd, CHOP
Marchuk says the impact Boisseau and Byrd have is tremendous. “I work on a unit with very long-term, adolescent patients. And when it comes to adolescent development, they want to express themselves, they want to feel comfortable and confident. And sometimes when you’re stuck in the hospital, you may not have your supplies, which can be really difficult for them. [Jennifer and Theresa] come in and say, Let’s work together; let’s think of a creative hairstyle you may want to do. And you can just see the smile after the patient gets their hair care performed. You can see their confidence.” The families, she says, are so appreciative.
Beyond the emotional impact, the women are also supporting patients’ physical well-being. “We’re finding pressure wounds, we’re doing scalp analyses. We know what kinds of special combs to use and what kind of moisture,” Boisseau says. And, of course, there’s much research about the healing power of touch, the physical and mental benefits it provides.
“It’s just an incredibly meaningful service,” says Marchuk.
A family affair
Patients aren’t the only clients Boisseau and Byrd see in the hospital. Given CHOP’s commitment to supporting the whole family, they also care for parents and caregivers. “It’s downtime for the adults to not have to worry about their child. And the patients, especially the young ladies, are so happy to see their family get care,” Boisseau says.
“I think adults underestimate kids and how much they pick up on,” Byrd, a mom of four, says. “They’ll tell me, ‘I heard my mom crying at night and I was praying by myself.’”
There are parents who are out of work caring for their child, or those who are looking to get back into work but don’t have time to get a haircut; there are those who are so busy tending to their child in the hospital and rushing home to care for kids at home, that they’ve taken no time for themselves.
“As a mom myself, those are the parents who get me the most,” Boisseau says. “We just come in and try to do the best we can to make them feel like their normal selves.”
It can be emotionally overwhelming, for sure. There are children who are so sick, they’re spending weeks and months in the hospital. There are those who don’t make it.
It helps to be part of such a tight-knit team. “We all just kind of hold on to each other,” says Boisseau. “The kids here treat me like a big sister; they chase me down the hall asking when they’re getting their hair done. It’s hilarious. Those are the things that keep my heart light.”
And as she gives to others, Boisseau feels she’s getting so much back. “I feel like I pass out cherries and sprinkles all day.”
Byrd, too, can’t believe her fortune. “It’s a full-circle moment,” she says of her one-time dream of working in pediatric medicine. “I love what I do, I love that I’ve been able to take all of my life skills and put them into a job that I even knew existed. CHOP is doing something that’s completely innovative. I’m very proud of the work that we’re doing, and all the possibilities that lie ahead.”
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