Soni Sangha Beauty salon owner Nick Mascolo isn't thinking about shampooing and highlights.
These days the former Vietnam veteran is preoccupied with helping wounded soldiers returning from Iraq.
For two weeks, Mascolo and fellow vet John Clemente have been collecting such items as phone cards, suitcases, sweatshirts, toiletries, shampoo, CD players and playing cards at his salon.
"When I came home people spat on me," he said. This is to make sure that doesn't happen again."
Customers and friends donated items for men and women, which will be sorted into small, medium and large sizes and packed into compact suitcases. He hopes the playing cards and CD players help the soldiers pass time, while the clothing and toiletries will make their stay comfortable.
Mascolo and Clemente vividly remember spending time in hospitals.
Mascolo served in Vietnam in 1968 in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, in a mortar platoon. He dislocated both shoulders. Clemente, a 1st Lieutenant in the Army, was shot in the leg.
"It's all about fear and anxiety" Mascolo remembered. "It's truly an awful experience."
Mascolo has organized 40 suitcases of items, which he will take to Walter Reed Army Medical Center on feb. 27.
The BBC Salon is located at 1 Highwood Ave., Tenafly. For more information, call (201)567-0007.