A handshake was all it took to transform a life

AIDS patient Wang Mengcai looks into the mirror at Beijing Ditan Hospital's Home of Red Ribbon and declares himself immensely satisfied with his new haircut.

"I look more handsome," he says.

The 43-year-old is in the capital briefly, having traveled from his hometown of Baicheng city, in Northeast Jilin province. He was one of the AIDS-affected patients chosen for first-class service by hairdressers from L'Oreal' China's participating hair salons, as part of the company's Hairdressers Against AIDS campaign, that started in 2005.