In a fusion of music, lights and hair design, 12 of Sacramento's top salons will be putting their styling talents on display in a month-long competition to raise funds for Village Care International (VCI). Hair Games 2009 begins Saturday, April 25, at 11 p.m. with its first semi-final round and will continue the next three Saturdays. The semi-finalists' fates will then be decided in a final competition to determine the "style champion" on May 30.

The event is being coordinated by the owner of Granite Bay's Bella Toscana Salon, Jo Ann Baumert, and Maly's salon product distributor, Patty Neher. Salons from all around the Sacramento area will be participating in the Games, including Roseville's Head Games, Carmichael's Bellara, and Midtown's Studio Q among others. A full list of participating salons can be found at the event's website at hairgames2009.com.

Auburn-based Village Care International provides assistance to African villages, especially focusing on African widows and around 30,000 orphans who are victims of the AIDS/HIV pandemic. Their mission is to empower villages and communities to provide assistance to their vulnerable members by providing food, clothing, and education among other resources. All of the proceeds from outside ticket sales will given directly to the charity.

Each salon will be given five minutes on the runway to put their best styling talents on display through the use of models and dancers, who will be strutting down the stage for club-goers to ogle. Salons will choose a theme and costume and style the hair of their models accordingly. They have been given free reign to choose their models and can put on as elaborate of a display as they wish, even if that includes body paint or pyrotechnics.

"It's just something fun that will show off talent and unite our industry in these dark economic times," said Neher, explaining that not only is the money going towards a great cause but the event will shine a much-needed spotlight on the industry, which is struggling along like many others right now.

The idea for the "Project Runway meets American Idol" fundraiser was dreamt up in 2007 as a way to help out those in need before the holiday season. Proceeds were donated to 20-30 charities to help purchase gifts for children. After taking a year off, the event is back and even bigger than before. Neher and Baumert are expecting anywhere from 300-500 guests to attend, with hopes that the number of attendees will grow each weekend along with the excitement.

The event is being sponsored by hair care product company CHI and its manufacturing company, Farouk, who will be supplying the salons with shampoo, hair color and tools to use in the show. The company is also providing the grand prize to the salon that wins the competition; each stylist from the winning salon will receive a two-day stay and airfare to the CHI academy. Maly's has contributed as well, taking care of the printing of promotion materials.

Tickets are available for the general public to purchase at the salons participating in the competition. The five Maly's stores in the area will also be selling tickets to licensed professionals. Barcode owner Mason Wong has also agreed to donate a percentage of ticket sales at the door to VCI. However, Neher encourages purchasing tickets in advance at salon or store locations as 100 percent of those sales will be donated.

More information about Village Care International can be found at the organization's website at villagecare.com.