I have always wanted to donate hair to an organization that makes wigs for women and/or children.  My hair is straight as a board.  It is healthy.  And, it grows well.  I have had long hair all of my life.  Sometimes it is long and sometimes it is super-long.  It was super-long up until yesterday.

Before I donated my hair, I researched two different organizations.  I chose to donate my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  This organization requires less hair than other ones.  Most importantly for me, they give the wigs away for free.  The wigs primarily go to women with cancer.

The following are step-by-step photographs of the process.  Your hair has to be clean and dry.  I washed my hair an hour or so before my appointment.

Brushing out my long locks.

Then the hair dresser gathers the hair into a rubber band.  It looks like a low ponytail.  She measures carefully to ensure that the proper length of hair is present.  For Pantene Beautiful Lengths, the minimum requirement is 8 inches of hair.  There is no maximum requirement.  The hair dresser then prepares to cut an inch above the rubber band.

No turning back now!

She asked me, “Are you sure about this?”  I nodded my head.  Then I heard the sound of very sharp scissors slicing through my hair.  “Oh, well.  Hair will grow back,” I thought to myself as I felt her remove most of my hair.  She lifted the pony tail up in the air.  I donated 11 1/2 inches of hair.  She wrapped another rubber band around the middle of the pony tail to secure the hair even more.  I dropped it into a padded envelope already addressed to the organization.

Then she washed my hair so that she could cut and style it more easily.  I flipped through a book of hair styles that she purchased just for me.  There were so many different types and so many different choices.  My cousin had advised me to keep it simple.  And, I heeded his advice.

My New Do

My hair is lightly layered in the back.  I still have side-sweeping bangs.  However in this picture, you cannot really tell.  My hair moves and bounces.  It feels very light.  For the first time, people can see the back of my neck without me putting my hair up.  I think my new haircut is cute.  One thing is for sure; it is certainly different.

I hope that someone special gets to wear my hair.  I hope that it makes her feel better and more self-confident.  I pray that she recovers fully from her illness.  It feels great to make a long donation of hair.

If you have any interest in donating your hair, then check out Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  They have a pdf file you can download with all of the rules and information.  They also have tips to help you grow long, healthy hair so that you can donate.

Tags: cancer patients, hair donation, Pantene Beautiful Lengths, wigs

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 5:07 am and is filed under For Women, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.