Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Tah-dah! Hairless Nani!

Okay, by comparison, hairless anyway. The whole point of having David take that picture that was the photoblog yesterday was to assess if I had enough. I did! Part of yesterday was my first visit to a hair salon in Toledo, where I donated three ponytails to Locks of Love!

If you’re not familiar with Locks of Love, they create hair pieces and hair prosthesis for children who have diseases that rob them of a normal head of hair. The hair pieces, high quality wigs, are available on an ability-to-pay basis for kids who have permanent or temporary hair-loss from illness or chemotherapy. I actually waited as long as I could to get it cut because I wanted to make sure I had the 10-inch minimum to donate.

I did my research at the Locks of Love website. I wanted to make sure of what the minimum was and if my color treated hair was okay. Color-treated is okay, bleached is not! It’s good color-treated is okay, because they don’t use gray! They’re making hair for children, after all!

The largest number of children who need the hair pieces suffer from alopecia. Alopecia wan cause hair loss in bands, patches or the entire head or body. For those children, they provide hair prosthesis, which are custom-fit to the child’s head. The prosthesis vacuum-seals to the wearer’s head without glue or tape. The children can even swim or shower with them on with no worry of them coming off. They have to be taken off by the wearer.

It takes 6-10 ponytails to make a hairpiece and the prosthesis would retail for $3500-6000. Locks of Love provides them at minimal or now cost. Sick kids shouldn’t have to give up the feeling of dignity or self confidence that something so many of us take for granted can provide and what their parents can or can’t afford shouldn’t make a difference. Locks of Love is an awesome organization that tries to make things a little better for kids who are living with illness!

Camelot Salon, in Holland Ohio, is a salon that does the cutting of ponytails for Locks of Love and will even send the hair in for you. I asked my stylist, Jamie, if she could have the ponytails sent. I didn’t need to do the “official” donation with my name on it. It’s not for the recognition that I did it. My hair is thick, healthy and grows fast. It always has, even when I permed on a regular basis, it stayed healthy with minimal extra conditioners. It’s very hearty! I can’t imagine what it would have been like if, as a kid, my hair wouldn’t grow, or I lost all of it, possibly to have it never grow back. It think it would have been devastating. It was bad enough for me when I played hockey and wore it short because it hurt when people thought I was a boy. As an adult, I understand how much difference it can make for a child whose hair won’t grow. As a society, we do place a lot of importance on appearance and as much as we may counsel a sick child on it not being important, it truly is for their own self-esteem.

I am very proud that I was able to donate my hair. Even if right now, it’s a little shorter than I’d like it, I know mine WILL grow back and I’m part of something great that will help a child whose won’t! If you are fortunate enough to have long healthy hair, please consider trying a new shorter style and donating a ponytail to Locks of Love. If the shorter style isn’t one you like, yours will grow back too. Aren’t ya glad?

For more information, visit the Locks of Love website
Locks of Love