New music venues are absolute beauties

Forget stadiums, town halls and pubs - hair and beauty salons are the next hit places to perform music and a Kiwi musician is doing just that and donating all proceeds to charity.

Singer-songwriter Chris Sanders will perform at Vital Results Skin and Body in Tauranga tonight from 5-9pm.

Funds raised from his six-date North Island tour will go towards women's cancer support network Look Good, Feel Better.

"It made sense for me to combine my musical gift and connection with the salon industry, to help an organisation that supports women with cancer restore and enhance their appearance before and after treatment," said Sanders.

"And as a former salon owner, I saw first hand how a good doll-up can help the self esteem and confidence of our clients who were battling cancer."

Sanders, a veteran of more than 1600 gigs, has supported Tin Finn, Dave Dobbyn and Anika Moa.

On the Your Beauty Salon Tour, Sanders will perform songs from his debut EP Home Away from Home and new material from an album due to be released this year. Each salon will have live-demonstrations, one-night offers and giveaways.

He promised to donate all the money raised from his EP sales on iTunes to the charity. And 10 cents from every download of Salon Finder app during May will also be donated.

Since 1992, Look Good Feel Better has run beauty workshops for New Zealand women to help them cope with the physical side effects of cancer treatment, such as drying flaking skin, hair loss and pigmentation changes, and will help more than 3000 women this year.

"We are incredibly excited to be a part of this very unique salon music tour," said Look Good, Feel Better general manager Yvonne Brownlie. "It means more women will find out about the support that is available to them or a friend who is dealing with cancer."