More Than a Beauty Box: What We Learned at A Day of Dignity
Since the very beginning of The Beauty Box Project, I have had a dream. Someday, I wanted to create a shopping experience for women. Not simply a place where we handed someone a box of products. Not a table where women were given whatever we happened to have.
I wanted to create a space where women could choose.
Choose the shampoo that works for their hair. Choose the skincare that feels right for their skin. Choose the products they actually need. Choose something their daughter would love. Choose something simply because it makes them feel good.
Because choice is something many of us experience dozens of times a day without ever thinking twice about it. And sometimes, when you're experiencing hardship or crisis, choice is one of the first things that disappears.
Finding the Right Partner
When I began learning more about Open Door Mission and the work they are doing to love, serve, and walk alongside women and families in Omaha, I knew I wanted The Beauty Box Project to find a way to partner with them.
But before we ever started collecting products, we started asking questions.
What do the women you serve need?
What are they asking for?
What products are difficult to access?
What would make them feel cared for?
What would empower them to keep moving forward?
Those conversations shaped everything that came next.
Open Door Mission team members told us about needs we hadn't fully considered, including the need for products specifically designed for textured and Black hair — leave-in conditioners, shampoos and conditioners for curly and coily hair, styling products, and products that help maintain the health of textured hair.
So we got to work. We researched. We listened. We learned.
We made an intentional effort to make sure the products we gathered represented the women who would be receiving them — different hair types, different skin tones and skin types, different ages, and different personal-care needs.
Because every woman is different.
And if we were going to create a shopping experience centered around choice, we needed to make sure there were actually choices available.
It Took a Community
Then Omaha showed up. Businesses opened their doors and hosted Beauty Drives.
Individuals donated products. Monetary donations came in, allowing us to intentionally purchase the items we knew were needed most. And one of our incredible partners, LovelySkin, donated 215 facial cleansers to help make the event possible.
Hundreds of products came through Beauty Drives across our community.
Week after week, our inventory grew. Eventually, we had gathered more than 2,000 products to bring to Lydia House.
Why a Canvas Tote?
There was another detail we thought carefully about. We didn't want to simply put everything in a cardboard box. For many women experiencing homelessness or housing instability, life can mean moving from place to place and carrying your belongings with you.
So we created canvas totes. Something that could hold the products they received that day — but could also go with them wherever life took them next. Something useful, durable, that belonged to them.
Then We Saw the Line
After weeks of preparation, we arrived at Lydia House and began setting everything up.
We arranged tables for hygiene, skincare, haircare, and beauty. We created a beauty station where women could bring their own products, sit down, learn how to use them, and even have their makeup done. We prepared mirrors, totes, products, signs, and everything else we had dreamed about for months.
And then I noticed something. There was a line of women outside the door.
At first, I was confused. Were they watching? Were they curious? Were they waiting for something else?
Then I realized:
They were waiting for us to open the doors.
They were excited. And that's when it hit me. These products meant more than I thought they did. This wasn't just a shopping event. For some women, this might be an hour or two of normalcy — an hour of getting to walk into a room and choose what they wanted, explore something new, sit down, laugh, learn, and be cared for.
An hour that might feel very different from the rest of their week.
We had planned for 25–40 women.
More than 75 women came through the doors.
Every Woman Had a Story
When those doors opened, the women flooded in. They went from station to station, filling their totes with products they needed and products they wanted. And then something unexpected happened at our beauty station. Women began sitting down in the chair. They wanted to learn how to use their makeup. They asked questions about blush, eyebrows, eyeshadow, skincare, and products they had never had the opportunity to try. And while they were sitting there, they started sharing their stories.
There were tears.
There was vulnerability.
There was relief.
There were stories of women who had never had personal-care products of their own. If they received body wash or a bar of soap, they gave it to their children.
There were single mothers who had been doing everything they could to keep their families afloat until an unexpected illness changed everything — money that once went toward bills now going toward cancer treatment.
There were women navigating temporary seasons of hardship.
There were women who had spent years carrying the weight of caring for everyone else while putting themselves last.
There were survivors of domestic violence and abuse. There were mothers. Daughters. Grandmothers. Teenagers. Every woman had a story.
And every woman deserved to be there.
This Isn't Vanity. It's Women's Health.
That day made something even clearer to me:
These products aren't vain.
They are women's health.
A mother told us that she and her children had been sharing one bar of soap for months, trying to make it last as long as possible.
We heard about teenagers missing school because they didn't have menstrual products.
We saw skincare products sitting untouched because someone didn't have the other products they needed to properly care for their skin.
We heard about children struggling with eczema.
Women dealing with itchy, unhealthy scalps because they didn't have the right products for their hair.
These are not frivolous problems.
When you don't have shampoo, deodorant, menstrual products, skincare, or products that work for your hair and skin, it affects your everyday life.
It can affect your confidence. Your comfort. Your ability to get ready for work. Your ability to go to school. Your ability to feel like yourself.
Personal care is part of being able to show up in the world.
The Birthday List
One of the moments I will never forget happened at the haircare table.
A mother saw a collection of hair bows and beads laid out for women and girls to choose from. She gasped. Then she told us that her daughter had been asking for bows in her hair for months. Every time they went to the pantry or the store, her daughter would ask if they could buy her a bow.
But food came first. Clothing came first. Other necessities came first. Understandably so.
The bows could wait.
Her daughter had even put them at the top of her birthday list. And suddenly, this mother was holding something that would allow her to check one small thing off that list.
It may seem like a small thing. A hair bow. A bead. Something so simple. But it wasn't small to her. She was going to be able to give her daughter something she had been asking for. And for a moment, that mattered.
The Hugs
By the end of the event, something else stayed with me. The hugs.
So many hugs.
Women I had never met would walk up to me with tears in their eyes. Sometimes they couldn't find the words. So they hugged me. And I could feel the tension release from their bodies. I could feel the gratitude. I could feel what it meant to know that they could wash their hair. That they had products that worked for them. That they could take care of their children's skin. That they could walk into a job interview feeling clean and confident. That they could give their daughter a hair bow. That someone had thought about them.
Someone had thought about what they needed.
Someone had prepared this space for them.
Someone cared.
I Left Different
I walked into Lydia House that day carrying more than 2,000 products. I walked out carrying something completely different. I am not the same woman who brought those products through the front doors. I left with a deeper understanding of the need. A deeper understanding of what personal care can mean. And an even bigger fire in my heart for this work. Because the need is glaring.
And it's up to all of us to decide whether we will look away or step closer.
This Is What Community Looks Like
None of this could have happened without the people who believe in The Beauty Box Project. Every product donated. Every dollar given. Every business that hosted a Beauty Drive. Every person who shared a post. Every company that said yes. Every volunteer who sorted and packed products. Every organization that opened its doors and trusted us to serve the women in their community.
You were all part of that room.
When a woman picked up a bottle of shampoo, you were part of that.
When a teenager found menstrual products, you were part of that.
When a mother found the perfect hair product for her daughter, you were part of that.
When a woman sat in the beauty chair, cried, laughed, learned something new, and walked away with a little more confidence — you were part of that.
This is what happens when a community decides to care.
And We're Just Getting Started
A Day of Dignity showed us something we will never forget:
The need is real.
But so is the impact.
And so is the opportunity.
We want to continue creating experiences where women and girls don't just receive products — they experience choice, dignity, confidence, love, and care. We want to continue listening to the organizations already doing the work and asking what their women and girls need. We want to continue partnering with businesses, brands, churches, schools, volunteers, and individuals who believe that every woman deserves access to the products that help her feel clean, confident, and cared for. And we want to take this work beyond Omaha and continue bringing it to women and girls across Nebraska.
Because every woman has a story. Every girl has a future. And every one of them deserves to know:
You are seen. You are valued. You are worthy of care.
Thank you to every person who helped make A Day of Dignity possible. We will never forget it. And we can't wait to see where this work takes us next.
Check out the video recap of the event:
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