Leah D. Johnson, BSN, CNRN, believes hair care is a fundamental human need. When she saw patients at UPMC Mercy facing challenges with basic personal care in the hospital, she wanted to find a better way.
After all, taking care of your hair helps you feel like yourself. That comfort is especially important when you’re at the hospital.
Although the hospital provided hair care products to patients, they didn’t fit all hair types. Patients with longer, coarser, and thicker hair had to either settle for lesser results or go without hair care entirely.
Wanting to find a solution, Leah connected with George Robinson II, director, Supplier Opportunity and Inclusion. George located a supplier that could provide a more complete set of personal care products for UPMC.
Through Leah and George’s teamwork, those products are now in several UPMC hospitals — and their number continues to grow. Leah continues to champion the importance of hair care in providing a positive patient care experience for everyone.
“Hair goes unnoticed in terms of the priority list of things that you do in a day, but when you look good, you feel good,” says Leah, a clinical instructor at UPMC Mercy School of Nursing and professional staff nurse at UPMC Mercy. “And so being able to provide that to patients is really important. I would go crazy if I could not touch my hair because the place I was in did not have any products.”
‘I Saw Patients Struggling’
Leah graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Nursing in 2020. She was working in a hospital in her hometown of Cincinnati when she first saw the need for more comprehensive hair supplies.
While Leah was caring for a stroke patient, the patient asked if Leah could help her with her hair. The patient’s hair had become matted during her time in the hospital. Leah spent an hour trying to untangle the patient’s hair using a fine-toothed comb, which was all the hospital had in supply.
“The smile that came across her face when I was done, it really made it all worth it,” Leah says. “But I used the shampoo that we had at the time and also a very thin comb, so some of the tangles could not come out because I didn’t have what I needed.
“That brought up the conversation of, ‘Let’s get different products in and see what we can do to help these patients.’”
Despite her efforts, Leah couldn’t secure more products at that time.
In 2021, Leah accepted a job in UPMC Mercy’s neurotrauma unit. The following year, she attended a medical conference in Philadelphia. A session at the conference included a discussion about what health systems could do to provide more complete care to all patients.
“As I was sitting in that session, it triggered (my brain) — like, ‘Oh, the hair care,’” Leah says. “It was something that had fallen off of my radar. This was a completely new system in a completely different state that was still having the same challenges.”
At the time, UPMC’s hair care supplies included baby shampoo, an all-purpose cleanser, a fine-tooth comb, and a dry shampoo shower cap. The shower cap delivered dry shampoo to a patient’s hair. After placing it on and scrubbing their head for a short time, they could take the cap off.
“I found that that product was not able to fit everyone’s needs,” Leah says.
“It works if your hair is short (and) if your hair is fine. However … if you have longer hair, it won’t fit into the cap. Additionally, if you have coarser, thicker hair, the product will not seep into the particles of your hair strands and get it clean. It’ll just leave a residue on the outside covering of your hair.”
‘No One Person Can Do Everything’
Wanting to do something to help all patients with their hair care needs, Leah contacted her managers. Eventually, her hospital’s leaders connected her with George.
In his work, George helps to identify and evaluate vendors who can provide products to meet the needs of all UPMC patients.
“It’s important for UPMC to be able to create a more holistic environment for which everyone can be successful and more healthy,” George says.
George had already been looking into the hair care product issue when Leah first contacted him. Working together, they made quicker progress.
“Anytime I talk about hair care, I talk about the importance of collaboration,” Leah says.
“No one person can do anything. It would be completely impossible for me to lead this hair care initiative without George, the person who’s securing the vendors, communicating with the vendors, and making sure we have what we need.”
Leah surveyed neurotrauma patients at UPMC Mercy to determine whether hair care in the hospital was important to them and whether they felt satisfied with the available products. She also surveyed employees about whether they had the necessary products and education to care for patients with all hair needs.
The surveys confirmed Leah’s expectations. Patients with longer, thicker, and coarser hair were not satisfied with the available products. The employees also felt they needed better education and products to serve patients.
“For many patients, not having access to appropriate hair care products exacerbates their sense of helplessness and discomfort during an already stressful time,” George says. “This lack of care has ripple effects on their mental well-being and overall hospital experience, potentially hindering recovery.”
Leah took on the hair care project in addition to her primary responsibility of caring for patients. She felt it was necessary to achieve better patient care.
“Every patient deserves to be able to feel good while they’re in the hospital, and not having the supplies can’t continue to be an answer,” Leah says.
‘It Allows Them to Be Seen’
While the surveys confirmed the problem, George and Leah were also working toward the solution.
George located several potential vendors for hair care products. However, the products had to undergo extensive testing to ensure they were safe and suitable for a hospital setting.
Ultimately, the search landed on a supplier whose hair care products fit UPMC’s patient needs.
The new hair care kits began arriving at UPMC in 2023. The kits include a gentle shampoo/cleanser, a leave-in conditioner, and a hair oil to lock in moisture.
“It can be used on all hair types,” Leah says. “This expands the number of patients who are able to receive hair care in the hospital, improving their overall patient experience. It also allows them to be seen — that we recognize that there’s something different you may need to take care of your hair in the hospital.”
Leah also focused on getting the word out to UPMC’s various hospitals. She spoke about the hair care issue to representatives at other UPMC hospitals and a systemwide nursing council. She found “hair care champions” to help spread the message at UPMC hospitals in western Pennsylvania and beyond.
“We all want the same thing, which is for all patients to feel good while they’re here,” Leah says.
‘The Tip of the Iceberg’
The new hair products began arriving at UPMC in 2023, but the project’s momentum ramped up in the spring of 2024. Since then, more hospitals have started using them.
George says the expansion has happened organically.
“It’s (happening) through the conversations being held at nurses’ stations, at work tables, and other areas where common conversations are occurring,” he says. “This is not something that is being necessarily pushed, but it’s actually being pulled.”
Eventually, Leah hopes to see the products available at all of UPMC’s hospitals.
The project isn’t stopping with the hair products themselves. Leah and George are also working on finding key hair accessories, such as wide-tooth combs and hair ties, as well as skin care products.
“This is literally the tip of the iceberg,” George says.
Leah is also spearheading employee education. She’s working to have a video created to teach employees how to provide hair care for patients with various hair needs.
“It’s really about coming back to the humanity of it all,” she says. “The person lying in front of you is not a task. They’re human beings who have had a life event happen to them, and now they are in our care. It’s our responsibility while they are in our care to make them feel as much at home as we can.”
George encourages other UPMC hospitals and staff members to engage his office with more ideas and initiatives to meet patients’ needs.
“By participating, you can help drive meaningful change and create a more inclusive health care system for everyone,” George says.
Leah says she’s received overwhelmingly positive feedback from patients and their families since the new hair care products became available at UPMC.
“It’s 2025, yet patients do not expect that this is something that’s offered in such a major institution,” Leah says. “I think it allows another level of transparency — that I see you, and I see that you may have different needs than the patient next door that must be embraced while you’re in the hospital.
“And so patients are definitely appreciative. The families are appreciative. And the products smell good. So, it adds another layer of joy (during) an unfortunate situation of being in the hospital.”