The Beauty Bus Foundation was founded in loving memory of Melissa Marantz Nealy who passed away the age of 28 from a degenerative neuromuscular disease. Melissa loved a good day at the spa. When her ability to leave the home became compromised, Co-Founder Alicia Marantz Liotta, Melissa’s cousin, was able to schedule in-home beauty services through her connections within the beauty industry. Witnessing the hope, happiness and respite these services brought to Melissa, Alicia and Co-Founder Wendy Marantz Levine, Melissa’s sister, were inspired to launch Beauty Bus Foundation.

The Hair Nerds are in awe of the incredible efforts made by The Beauty Bus Foundation. They have found a way to let stylists (and all other beauty professionals) utilize their talents to give back to their community. During this season of giving, we encourage you to find a way to get involved!

Welcome to Our Family: Beauty Bus Founders, Alicia Marantz Liotta (in yellow) and Wendy Marantz Levine (in pink) with Lindsay Marantz Mauro and Melissa Marantz Nealy (in her signature color - green), the beautiful inspiration for our organization.

We had a chance to sit down with co-founder, Alicia Marantz Liotta, and discuss what the future holds for The Beauty Bus and how YOU can get involved.

The Hair Nerds: We adore this foundation and truly believe in it's mission. Can you tell us why you feel beauty services are such an important gift to give the terminally ill?

Alicia Marantz Liotta: As a beauty consumer and a past beauty marketer and editor I truly believe in the transforming power of a beauty or grooming service. For people who are terminally or chronically ill these services offer hope, dignity and respite.

When human touch most often comes from a doctor running a test or a nurse administering a blood test or a shot the pampering touch of a beauty professional is an amazing gift that not only reminds people that they are beautiful inside and out but also lets them know that someone cares.

At Beauty Bus we have adopted a quote from Hippocrates, “it is more important to know the [person] with the disease than the disease the [person] has.” Society often loses sight of this. The power of our services is best described by one of our clients who we served as she underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer.

"Anyone battling a disease who is home-bound yearns for the feeling of being 'human' again. The simplest idea of someone coming to your home to pamper you at a time when all your energy is being expended to fight a personal battle, is much more than just feeling good about how you look. Beauty Bus gives its clients renewed internal strength to keep fighting." - Karen O.

The Hair Nerds: Since Beauty Bus launched in June 2009, the foundation has really grown by leaps and bounds. Tell us about your plans for National Expansion in 2012.

Alicia Marantz Liotta: At the beginning of 2012, Beauty Bus will begin to send Bags of Beauty to chronically or terminally ill men, women and children around the country and their caregivers, whom we cannot visit in person and who are battling one of our qualifying diseases or conditions.

The bags we send to those battling illnesses and their dedicated caregivers will remind these patients and unsung heroes that there is someone out there thinking about them and that they deserve to look and feel beautiful. Our wish is that these Bags of Beauty will bring smiles and hope to those who need it most. The Bag of Beauty Program will officially launch at the end of 2011, with a Holiday Gift Box fundraiser. Holiday Gift Boxes will be available for purchase beginning November 1, 2011 online or by calling Beauty Bus at 310-392-0900.

To compliment the Bag of Beauty Program as well as our In-Home Visits and Pop-Up Salons in Los Angeles, videos by celebrity stylists and the beauty industry’s top educators, will be available on the Beauty Bus website and on our You Tube channel so patients and caregivers around the country can get beauty and grooming tips from the pros. These beauty tips will be an interactive way to bring Beauty Bus into everyone's home.

In the latter part of 2012, Beauty Bus will continue our national expansion by partnering with beauty professionals and social service agencies nation-wide to create "Virtual Salons" around the country where patients and caregivers can come to receive a variety of beauty and grooming services in a setting that promotes serenity and support.

The Hair Nerds: The 2011 Beauty Boxes are full of amazing items! What will the proceeds help The Beauty Bus accomplish ?

Alicia Marantz Liotta: The proceeds of the gift boxes support the launch of Beauty Bus Foundation's 2012 national campaign to give the gift of beauty, free of charge, to those in need. For every Holiday Gift Box purchased, two Bags of Beauty worth over $150 will be sent throughout the country to clients battling illness and their dedicated caregivers, whom we are unable to see in person, as a reminder that we are thinking of them and they deserve to look and feel beautiful. Thanks to our generous sponsors all of the product for the gift bags has been donated so 100% of the proceeds go directly to benefitting terminally and chronically ill people and their caregivers.

The Hair Nerds: Has the beauty industry been receptive to your cause?

Alicia Marantz Liotta: The beauty industry has been AMAZING!!! Without the support we have received from companies like Bosley Professional Strength, InStyler, Pravana, OPI, Aloxxi and so many others we would not be where we are today.

We are incredibly grateful for our salon partners who give of their time and spread our message and of course our Beauty Professional volunteers without whom we would not be able to service our clients. We have also been blessed by the trade media who continues to cover the work that we do.

The Hair Nerds: For our Hair Nerds outside of the Los Angeles area... How can they help in a tangible way?

Alicia Marantz Liotta: We are always in need of Beauty Ambassadors outside the Los Angeles to help us spread the word and raise awareness about Beauty Bus. Hair Nerds can help by holding a product drive, a cut-a-thon, creating a retail incentive by giving back a portion of sales to Beauty Bus. By helping us get others on board we can have an army on the ground when we do expand our services to other cities.

Want to join forces with Beauty Bus and start sharing the love, now? Be sure to check out the 2011 Holiday Beauty Boxes and buy a gift that truly keeps on giving!

Box One, valued at $305, sells for $150 (including shipping and handling) and features:

Alterna Bamboo Color Care UV+ Fade-Proof Fluide
Bosley Professional Strength Volumizing & Thickening Nourishing Leave-In
DuWop Prime Venom
Joico Skin Luxe Whipped Vanilla Soothing Body Crème or Body Cleanser
Murad Hydro-Dynamic™ Ultimate Moisture
OPI Shatter
Revitalash Enhanced Formula! Eyelash Conditioner
Smashbox Eye Shadow Quad in GlamourEyes Brown

Upgrade to Box Two ($425 value) for $200 (including shipping and handling) and your gift set will include InStyler® The Amazing Rotating Iron.

How are you giving back to your community?

Tell us and we will pick a random entry on December 20th. The winner will recieve a Beauty Box valued at $425. E-mail us at info@TheHairNerds.com . (Be sure and include your contact info)