Going to the barbershop could mean more than getting a fresh Caesar, fade or lineup. Starting this Saturday in California, the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program will be offering health screenings and health education to black men at 80 barbershops in 23 cities.

The initiative is part of a larger program that will go nationwide and touch 50 cities in all. The goal is to educate and screen black men about diabetes, high blood pressure and the importance of early prostate cancer detection.

"The need to address health care disparities in African American men is paramount in light of the fact that they have the lowest life expectancy of any group in the U.S.," said Dr. Bill J. Releford, a podiatric surgeon and founder of the Diabetic Amputation Prevention (DAP) Foundation who is leading the effort.

"For decades, the black barbershop has served as a centralized gathering place, where African American men feel comfortable discussing the most important issues that impact their lives: politics, social trends, family and finances. Now, we are introducing an important discussion of health and the critical need for health awareness," Releford added.

Saturday's event will target 80 barbershops and aims to screen more than 2,500 black men in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Bernardino, Pomona, Riverside, Corona, Moreno Valley, Paris, Redlands, Inglewood, Hawthorne, Compton, Watts, Gardena, Carson, Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville, Oakland, San Diego and other cities.

Black men often suffer from diseases at a higher rate than other races. For example, black men are 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease and are twice as likely to die of prostate cancer than any other racial or ethnic group in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Not only that, 26 percent of black men over the age of 18 smoke, and 36 percent of black men over the age of 20 are obese. Approximately 39 percent have hypertension. Overall, 13 percent of us are in poor health, according to the CDC, but I suspect that number is higher.

Since the project began in 2007, nearly 15,000 men in 23 cities, including New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis and New York City (Harlem), have been tested.

"This is an amazing program on many levels," said Dr. Keith Norris, interim president of Charles Drew University, one of the sponsors of the outreach effort. "Not only is the idea of screening African American men in barbershops critical for reaching many who may otherwise not be captured in the health care system, it creates a model for education and empowerment, which is needed to reduce health disparities."

These terrible statistics don't even reflect the higher homicide rate that black men have to contend with. We need to stop killing one another and learn to be healthy. Not enough of us are living long enough to even collect Social Security. I don't know about you, but I picture myself in the barbershop years from now with my gray hair littering the floor.

There's nothing wrong with being educated about your health. There's also nothing wrong with hanging around long enough to raise your family and contribute to your community, but you need to be healthy to do those things well.

So, if you see the outreach program in your local barbershop, stop trash talking for a minute and listen up.

After all, what's the use of looking clean if you feel terrible?

Check out Part 2 of the Black Barbershop program in Chicago: