"The Josephine beauty parlor in northern Paris is celebrating its first birthday Thursday. Some 1,200 disadvantaged women -- abuse victims, former convicts or addicts, disabled women, single unemployed mothers -- have come here for a professional haircut and makeup, or to borrow clothes for a job interview, since it opened on International Women's Day a year ago. Thanks to volunteer workers and private sponsors, it's just $3.95 for a haircut including highlights, less than the cost of a cafe au lait in a Parisian bistro. But the salon's real attraction is the boost to morale, confidence and even job prospects that it provides."
