The first time I’d ever heard about Locks of Love was when I was chaperoning my (then) kindergarten daughter’s field trip and noticed a classmate had cut her hair short. This girl had long, gorgeous blond hair, and I know that no little girl chooses to have her hair cut–well, at least not for a good reason. So I asked her why she’d cut her hair. She did it in honor of someone she knew who had died of cancer, and she did it so she could donate her hair to Locks of Love, which makes wigs for kids with hair loss.
That “someone” was one of the pediatricians that my daughter went to. The week before, one of the doctor’s in the practice had died. It was a husband-and-wife practice, and the doctor who’d died was the wife. The couple had three children of their own, and hundreds of local kids in their practice. It made perfect sense that a kindergartener would want to cut her hair to honor a doctor she loved. What a great kid.
Fast forward eight years, and my now 13 year old decided that she wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love–not because anyone she knows has died (thank goodness), but as one of the service projects that she’s required to do for her upcoming confirmation. She’s also applied to volunteer at the local library, and she’ll be helping my mother out at the church-run thrift store my mother oversees that helps to clothe indigent families in her community.
Turns out that Locks of Love isn’t the only organization that takes hair donations. Pantene, the shampoo people, sponsor something called Beautiful Lengths. It, too, is a hair donation program, but it’s more adult oriented–from the hair donors to the wig recipients. Also, unlike Locks of Love, which requires a minimum of 10 inches of hair, with Beautiful Lengths you can get away with a hair donation of only eight inches.
The more I read about hair donation, the more I realize that doing so really is a green way of getting your hair cut. I mean, currently I compost hair from brushes or the “fuzzies” from when I shave my husband’s head (yes, he’s too cheap to pay for a barber visit, and that’s just fine with me). So you have to wonder how many tons of hair that salons throw in the trash every year when, in fact, they could be doing something else with them.
Most salon owners probably figure that they can’t do anything with hair scraps, right? Wrong! Check out this organization called Matter of Trust that takes hair clippings and turns them into carpets used to soak up oil spills. Or they could follow the lead of this salon owner in the UK I’d read about who really does compost hair. I mean, unlike my backyard compost of food scraps and dried leaves, her compost is comprised of hair clippings and worms.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
I just wanted to let you know that Locks of Love does NOT use the donations for kids with cancer. They consider baldness related to cancer treatment a temporary condition which therefore does not meet their guidelines. They typically deal with children suffering from alopecia. There have also been issues in the past with Locks of Love’s financial records disqualifying them from being classified as a charity.
Here is what it says on the Locks of Love website: “Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. We meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers.”
You’re right–it does not say anything about cancer.
I’ve donated my hair twice, and both times the length was under 10 inches, but it was accepted anyway.
Next time I get it axed, I’m working through Clippin’ for a Cure, which is Cooper University Hospital’s program that raises money according what hair is clipped — and I get a free haircut! Here’s the details: http://www.cooperhealth.org/content/Cancer/Clip.htm
I keep wishing I could make something from the fur my bunnies keep shedding…but the hair, that we can handle.
Unfortunatly no one considers the backlass to those with long hair, like the Oprah show on the subject. I now have to justify where ever i go that i have not cut my long hair for donation. I wear it in a bun because I NEVER go anywhere without some say “you can or you should” donate your hair!
I can’t believe how rude people have gotten. I have a right to donate what i want when i want and I should not have to feel bad for wanting to keep my hair!