Red Cross’s Camille Zumwalt Answers Call to Ihloff Makeover
By Tracey E. Norvell
Contributing Writer
TRACEY E. NORVELL for GTR Newpspaers
Camille Zumwalt’s pager signaled her one afternoon in early August. It wasn’t alerting her to an emergency.
“Each day, our trained American Red Cross volunteers respond to what’s known in the Red Cross world of emergency services as “Quiet Disasters.” Quiet disasters don’t usually make the front page of the morning newspaper or the evening news. But to the family whose home has just been destroyed by a fire or heavily damaged by a flash flood, they are facing a life-changing situation. Life goes on as usual for their neighbors, while their personal world appears to be falling apart. And more often than not, the first person they turn to for help in recovering from their disaster is a specially trained Red Cross volunteer,” says Zumwalt, American Red Cross Tulsa Area Chapter public relations specialist.
Last year alone, the Tulsa Area Chapter’s dedicated disaster action team volunteers responded to 448 disasters and offered disaster recovery assistance to 1,022 family members.
“Our chapter is one of the few in the country with a special arrangement to monitor its city fire departments’ emergency calls, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. This relationship works extremely well because our Red Cross volunteers are dispatched to the scene and assisting the family at the same time that firefighters are paying attention to the pressing demands of putting out the fire,” explains Zumwalt. “When called to the scene of a house fire, sometimes at 3:00 a.m., one of a Red Cross volunteer’s first jobs is to meet with the family living in the home. Often this occurs in the front yard while the house is still smoldering.”
Following a damage assessment of the property, our volunteers interview the family regarding their immediate needs. Red Cross typically provides for a person’s basic needs such as a safe place to sleep, food or groceries, and new clothing.
So when Zumwalt’s pager buzzes, she is always ready for action but when we paged her this month, the call was not a typical one. Ihloff Salon & Day Spa wanted to rescue Zumwalt from her routine!
Her visit to the south salon began with a rosemary mint body wrap with Ihloff Technician Whitney Elledge.
“This is one of several body wraps we offer. In the summer it is especially soothing, cooling, and rejuvenating,” says Elledge.
The wrap begins by applying exfoliant lotion to the whole body to remove dead skin cells. Next a moisturizer is applied during a gentle all-body massage. Using Aveda rosemary and peppermint oils and lotions, coupled with warm towels and a heat-insulating wrap, Elledge then wrapped Zumwalt in what resembled a cocoon. While bathed in warmth and enjoying the delightful aromatherapy of the wrap, Zumwalt received a foot and scalp massage. Imagine tingling head to toe!
At Zumwalt’s next stop in her spa visit, she received a brow tint, shape, and eye zone treatment with Melissa McCollum. Adding a touch of color to eyebrows can make them look fuller, as well as darker according to McCollum. “The color picks up all the baby hairs.” McCollum recommends a brow shape, which is done with a combination of waxing and plucking, at the time of each haircut. “This is a rule of thumb. Exact timing depends on brow growth and haircut frequency,” says McCollum.
An eye zone treatment concludes with the soothing sensation iced green tea bags applied to the eye areas.
For Zumwalt’s hair color, Ihloff Designer Leslie Wilson and Zumwalt agreed to highlights to brighten her overall color and low lights to blend in old highlights. Both agreed Zumwalt’s curly hair ruled out bangs but taking two inches off the length and adding face-framing layers around Zumwalt’s face would be very complementary. Wilson washed Zumwalt’s hair using Aveda Color Conserve Shampoo and styled it using Aveda Hang Straight Styling Lotion, combined with Brilliant Emollient Gloss to reduce frizzies and Brilliant Spray-on Shine to add glossiness.
For skincare and makeup, Ihloff’s Aveda Makeup Artist Gina Picart recommended using only products, such as Aveda, containing no alcohol. “Alcohol strips acid mantle and all moisture from skin, making dry skin dryer and triggering oil production in oily skin,” says Picart.
Additional tips Picart offered include applying tourmaline-infused moisturizer with SPF for a healthy skin glow; selecting a foundation shade that blends perfectly with complexion color to even out overall skin tone with a natural look, followed with loose, translucent powder applied with a large makeup brush to set the foundation; using neutral shades of eye shadow to accentuate eyes and applying a lighter shade of color in the center of the eyelid to reflect light, making the eye appear larger.
The finished result of Zumwalt’s Friday was a hit with Zumwalt and her husband Mark. Zumwalt also thought everyone at the salon was “so kind and so good at what they do” not unlike the Red Cross disaster relief volunteers she sees in action.
There are a lot of wonderful things one can do within a community, but not all are as potentially life changing as being a Red Cross disaster relief volunteer. People who volunteer for emergency services come from backgrounds as diverse as those of the people they serve.
“The common bond shared by all Red Cross volunteers is that they are guided by the enduring mission of providing relief to victims of disaster and helping people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies,” explains Zumwalt. For more information about the Red Cross, visit www.tulsaredcross.org.
Updated 08-26-2004
READER COMMENTS
About Post Author
