Gone was the Mohawk she had worn last year, and in its place an A-line bob by Hair by Daniel, plus a new outfit.

But as remarkable as the change was on the outside for Landis and five other women — new clothes, hair styles and professionally done makeup — it's what happened on the inside that will stay with them.

Emily Kekuewa, 29, a mother of four who has been drug-free for nine months, said a life of homelessness and drugs had left her feeling "helpless, hopeless, worthless."

"This is the first set of new clothes I've had since the third grade," Kekuewa said Tuesday in the final stages of what the three teens called Feel Good Day. "It feels great to feel like a woman, like I'm somebody again, and that people care."

Makeover recipient Jaime Altieri, left, shows Girl Scout Akie Mochizuki an outfit she plans to wear after she has her baby. In the background, Scout Mychal Hatae checks over some the available outfits. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

The three are members of Troop 971 in Manoa, and Feel Good Day was their project for a Girl Scout Gold Award, equivalent to the Boy Scouts' Eagle Award.

The girls chose to aid The Salvation Army's Ke Ola Pono transitional program for women who are pregnant or parenting children under 10 years of age because it "impacts people in our community," said Hatae, the "creative one" of the teens.

"We wanted to see expressions on a face rather than something hanging on a wall," Hatae said of why they chose to do Feel Good Day rather than, say, create a mural.

The Scouts spent 18 months on the project, lining up donations and services from 36 businesses and individuals, including professional makeup artists Chrysalis Reyna, Christine Gardner and Beverly Kaneshige.

But the Scouts had to break down a barrier if the project was to succeed.

"At first, I think the women thought they were there for us, to help us complete a project," said Mochizuki, the "organizer" of the group.

"I told them we were there for them, this wasn't about us," she added. "We wanted them to enjoy this and not feel obligated to us. Our goal was to improve their appearances so they could apply for jobs and feel self-confident."

Besides Landis, 31, and Kekuewa, others selected for Feel Good Day were "Bibi" Olsen, 34; Haku Mitchell, 23; Joanna Schutz, 34; and Jaime Altieri, 27.

"My impression before I met them was these girls have got to be crazy to want to do this for the women they picked," Landis said. "Me, Bibi and Jaime are street-tough kind of girls. The whole experience of getting dolled up is a different thing for us."

The culmination of Feel Good Day for the six women and three teens was high tea at the Halekulani Hotel's Orchids restaurant.

"I haven't felt this nervous since I gave birth to my son," Landis said before arriving at the Halekulani. "I don't know anything about high tea, how to act. For me, it's easier to act tough on the streets (in these situations). I gotta watch my language."

The day ended with hugs and joyful tears, a reward greater than any honor.

"They've done more than I expected .... (because) it was from the heart," said Schutz, a mother of three who had not dressed up since her senior prom 17 years ago. "Normally, when children their age do things like this, they will try to get it done as quickly as possible. It took a lot of footwork by them to get us to this point.

"It takes strength and courage to work with six women with our backgrounds, not that we're bad people, but we can be rough people to work with."

What the women gained from the experience was self-esteem, said Athalia Casas, a Ke Ola Pono life-skills instructor.

Markham-Pukini, the group's "doer," estimated the three Scouts devoted at least 70 hours to the project. It became personal when the girls met the women two weeks ago.

"They were having fun and enjoying themselves," Markham-Pukini said. "The change was more in their hearts than in how they looked. People can change on the outside but deep down inside, when they're feeling good about themselves and feeling that people care, they'll go out and spread good feeling, too. When I look back to the beginning, I can see so much was accomplished."

For parents Michi and Guy Hatae, Carol Markham-Pukini and Warner Pukini, and Bette Jo "B.J." Mochizuki, who have been involved in their daughters' projects for more than 11 years, it was rewarding to see this final effort unfold. But it was difficult to watch from the background.

"As parents, we had to remind ourselves they're not 8-year-old girls anymore and let them establish what they wanted to do and how they were going to do it," Carol Markham-Pukini said. "We could offer guidance but had to take ourselves back and not tell them what to do. They're at the stage where they need to fly on their own."

Memories of Feel Good Day are forever for Mitchell, who had never before used makeup or been to a hair stylist; Altieri, a first-time mother-to-be who will be able to tell her child someday what it's like to be pampered; and Olsen, who found out what it feels like to be a little girl again.

"What I can say now," said Landis, summing up the feeling of the others, "is I'm really thankful."