When it came time for English teacher Daphne to pick a school, she chose one of the toughest assignments—working with some of Chicago's most troubled students. "They have so much potential," she says. "They're really brilliant. They're really great kids. They give my life meaning."
Her hard work and dedication paid off! She received the 2007 Milken Educator Award for furthering excellence in education! When
Oprah Show producers saw Daphne's story on the front page of the
Chicago Sun-Times they invited her to Harpo Studios for a makeover from
Rita Hazan! Rita gives Daphne a vibrant new red color and trims her hair into a short, sophisticated style.
Watch as Daphne receives her award! 
In addition to her professional success, Daphne has also attained a major personal achievement—she lost 200 pounds and has kept off the weight for five years. "That's a real, real accomplishment in life," Oprah says. "You look great!"
As a stay-at-home mom, Angela says she doesn't have much time to style her hair. "I'm lucky if I get to take a shower," she says. "I used to like my hair. I don't have the time to do it, and I just don't feel pretty."
After
Ken Paves gets a hold of Angela, she looks like a whole new person! He transforms her dark tresses to light red and adds length with hair extensions. "I feel wonderful. I feel like a new person," Angela says. "I love it!"
When Janice meets stylist
Harry Josh at the Great American Haircut Salon, she has lots of blonde, curly hair. "It's beautiful," Harry says. "It's very Chaka Khan, but a modern version of it."
Harry has an entirely different vision for Janice's hair. "She has this amazing pale skin, these unbelievable eyes that just needed to be featured somehow," he says. "Her eyebrows were so blonde, and I just was seeing something completely different on her."
Harry creates a very sexy look for Janice, giving her a gorgeous, straight, dark red mane. When Janice reveals her look on
The Oprah Show, her husband is
very happy! "She looks absolutely beautiful," he says.
After she was laid off from her corporate job, Virginia went back to school and became a pastry chef at the Ritz-Carlton. She says she had the same long, curly hairstyle for years. "My hair has pretty much been the same length for most of my life, and it's always been pretty frizzy," she says. "It can go curly and I can never really get it nice and straight. So I was always hesitant to get it cut short because it might get crazy."
Stylist
Ted Gibson doesn't hesitate to make a big change—he gives her a sleek, straight, shoulder-length 'do. "I can't believe how different I look. I feel like a different person," Virginia says. "I think all the time I was kind of hiding behind my hair, and now it's pretty hair. I don't want to hide behind it."
Rolanda started going gray 30 years ago—now she is ready for something new. "I wear it back in a ponytail every day, and I'd like to see a change that helps me look younger and more refreshed," she says.
Colorist Rita Hazan to the rescue. She makes Rolanda look years younger by turning her drab gray into a rich brunette. She even adds some blonde highlights!
Eric became a makeover candidate after doing some work on the home of Jill, an Oprah Show producer. For three years, he has been living underneath layers and layers of hair! "He's like a caveman," Jill says. "I can so envision him beneath it all, how he's going to look."
Eric's mom, Gail, and girlfriend, Kim, haven't seen the results of his makeover—until now! When Kim sees her boyfriend's new clean-cut look, she is thrilled. "I can feel some great sex coming," Oprah jokes.
Eric admits that a combination of laziness and a desire for a new style kept him from getting it cut. All that hair made for a very hot summer—but now he's all cooled off! "Walking around yesterday, my face felt like it had an air conditioner on it constantly."
Jaime says she let her hair grow long because she was so busy. "Dealing with my kids and running around, I just throw it back and it's easiest for me," she says. "I'm tired of the bun, and I'm just tired of it all."
Celebrity hairstylist
Kimberly Kimble helps Jaime make a dramatic change by cutting off more than a foot of hair! Her new look is a short, chic style with rich color and highlights. "I look in the mirror [and say], 'Is that me?'" she says.
Toyka spends so much time caring for other people, she doesn't make much time for her hair. "My mom, she got cancer when I was going to the ninth grade, and she just died last year," she says. "So I take care of my dad, and right now I just don't have a lot of time to really make myself look fabulous."
Stylist Kimberly Kimble decides to give Toyka the Beyoncé treatment. She adds gorgeous, long extensions—and bangs!. "It is amazing. I feel like a supermodel. I love the look. Kim is fabulous," Toyka says. "I'm just blessed to be here. I'm amazed. I look in the mirror like, 'Who is she? I know that face, but now it's just complete.'"
"Wow," Oprah says. "That's a wow-er."
Chevis says her visit to Oprah's Great American Haircut Salon is her first salon visit ever. She has never dyed her long, brown hair before. "When I saw Chevis, I just knew that she was definitely someone who could carry something really dramatic," says hairstylist Harry Josh.
Harry says he trimmed off about a foot and a half from Chevis's hair, giving her an adorable, stylish, chin-length cut. "Chevis was—wow—definitely one of the most exciting haircuts we did in the whole experience," Harry says.
Chevis says she feels like a whole new person. To keep her new look a surprise from her husband she wears a shower cap home from the salon. His reaction after the big reveal? "Wow!"
"I feel like a million bucks," Chevis says.
Megan says she's had the same very, very long hair since she was 10 years old. "When I saw Megan walk in, I saw the hair first and then I saw all the potential second," says hairstylist Ken Paves. "I saw this really cool young girl and I felt like she was kind of hiding behind the hair, so I wanted her to let it all out."
Ken shortens Megan's hair to chin-length, giving her a sassy, wavy style. Megan says it's easy for her to style herself, and it also looks cute straight! "It's amazing," Megan says. "I love it."
Shella says she has kept her hair shoulder-length since age 12—but she's ready for a change! "What I saw in Shella was she looked a little old, and I saw that she had the potential to look amazing with short hair," says hairstylist Ted Gibson.
Ted gives Shella a stylish, short look. "Wow! Sassy fun," Oprah says. "How cute!"
Shella says she loves her new style. "You know, I always felt pretty before, but now I feel fabulous."
Terri tells hairstylist Kimberly Kimble she is ready for a change—a big one! "I am a member of Club 40, and I am a true believer of, '40 is the new 20,'" she says. "I need my hair to bring it."
"What I think was aging Terri was that she had these dark roots and then it was so short," Kimberly says.
When Kimberly is finished, Terri looks like a supermodel! Her richly colored hair is much longer thanks to hair extensions. "You look 25!" Oprah says.
Janet has known her husband for 21 years, and her hair has always been the same! Stylist Ted Gibson noticed a few "lighter pigments" as well. "Janet had speckles of gray in her hair. That gray hair ages you 10 to 15 years," he says.
Ted decides to give Janet a vibrant new look with a stylish, straight cut in a daring shade of bright red. "It's great," Janet says. "I feel sophisticated and chic."
"And you look it, too," Oprah says.
Carrie is tired of looking older than her age. "When I was at my son's school, we were out on the playground and this little boy came up to me and he said, 'Are you his grandma?'" she says.
Colorist Rita Hazan says Carrie's hair color could be the culprit. "The mistake women make that ages them is that they bleach out their hair too much," she says.
Rita tones down Carrie's blonde locks by giving her a slightly darker shade of blonde. She also adds some depth with highlights. "We took 10 years off Carrie's looks by giving her a knockout color," she says.
Carrie says she loves her new look. "It looks like she put streaks of sunshine in your hair!" Oprah says. "It looks so sunshiney."
Celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves says Connie's butterfly-clip hairstyle makes her look much older than her true age. "Most women, you know, after the age of 30 need some softness and some face framing with their hair," he says. "Pulling your hair all off your face, exposing the entire hairline, instantly ages a woman forward 15 to 20 years."
Ken softens Connie's look by straightening her hair and giving it a shorter, angled cut. "I feel amazing," she says. "It's incredible!"
"Fresh, so fresh. You look great," Oprah says.
1974 was the year Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" won a Grammy, The Godfather Part II was in theaters, and it was last time Carol cut her hair!
"You just start letting it grow and kind of just throw it back in a braid and a ponytail, and it's easy to take care of," she says.
Carol says she's ready to let go of the past—and Harry Josh knows just what to do. "My first thoughts on Carol when I saw her is she got stuck in a rut, which a lot of women across the country do," he says. "We can take 20 years off of her with that hair, not to mention more than 20 inches."
Carol's new shoulder-length cut gives her a fresh new look. "I love it. I really love it," she says. "It's just really easy to take care of, and it just makes me feel younger, too."
Ahlam enters the salon with curly, highlighted locks—and leaves with a straight, rich brown, shoulder-length style.
Alisa's goes from long wavy hair to stylish new curls.
Stylists straighten out Angela's curls for a sophisticated new look.
See more makeovers in part 2
