Before I moved, I was seeing the same stylist I had frequented since I was 11 years old. She knows my life story, and I know hers. She fixed a bad home-dye job I did in college, and she came to my house at the crack of dawn to make my hair beautiful on my wedding day.

Stylists can really get an inside look into our lives, can’t they? That’s why CUT IT OUT makes so much sense.

CUT IT OUT (www.cutitout.org) is a national program that teaches salon professionals to recognize signs of domestic abuse and safely refer clients to people and resources that can help. The 7-year-old program makes sure stylists know what to do with the scary secrets that have been entrusted to them. (This kind of training should be mandatory for bartenders too, don’t you think?)

Now, in support of CUT IT OUT, Empire Education Group, a system of corporate-owned cosmetology schools, has just launched a national anti-domestic violence campaign, Empire Gives Back (www.empiregivesback.com).

Through Empire Gives Back (a play on “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” perhaps?), Empire will teach its students about domestic violence and how to respond when clients are suffering from abuse. In addition to educating students, each school will promote public awareness, provide support for victims, and raise funds to support women’s shelters.

It seems to me that this campaign is going beyond public service announcements and putting its money where its mouth is. Each Empire school will adopt a local domestic violence support organization and support it through fundraising events as well as no-charge services to the women in these shelters. These women will also become eligible to receive financial assistance to attend any Empire Beauty School in the country. Seriously!

Looking for a tangible way to get involved? Mark your calendar for Empire’s National Day of Beauty on October 11. On that day, all funds generated from services and sales in Empire’s 87 student salons will be donated to local shelters. Click here to find an Empire school and student salon near you.

-Robyn Tellefsen