After loosing several friends and family to Cancer, knowing a few survivors and after seeing My Sister's Keeper and then a few days later reading a local newspaper article that a friend had posted to Facebook I decided to do a little bit of research. The newspaper article was about a hairdresser who had donated her own hair to a charity that makes wigs for kids with Cancer from the donated hair. I had heard about hair donation before but I had never given any thought to it. I done a bit of research on-line to find out more about organisations/charities that were involved in hair donation and what the requirements were for each one. I discovered that the minimum length of the hair donation varied with each one and also that some of them will accept grey hair whilst others don't.
My initial thoughts were that I wanted to make a hair donation but without making an overly big change to my own image and so I looked into the Charities that required the least hair length donation. I settled on Little Princess Trust as their minimum donation is only require 7 inches and they specifically help children by providing a real-hair wig free of charge to a child in need of one. Real-hair wigs are so much better than synthetic wigs because they are more comfortable, feel a lot nicer and they can be washed and styled with heated rollers/curling tongs/straighteners/styling products just like your own hair, something that cannot be done with a synthetic wig. I thought that I would grow my hair over the Winter and then have it cut in the Spring back to my usual length, which is about level with the back of my bra.
I mentioned my intentions to my husband, who was supportive, and then set about setting up a Just Giving Page and taking some photographs showing how long my hair is and I edited them to mark on them the length that I would be having my hair cut back to in the Spring.
Over the next 24 hours or so I got to thinking about how my hair will look after its been cut and whether I would have it layered and graduated again. I realised that I have had pretty much the same style now since my eldest daughter was born 9 years ago - long layered with a central parting, fringe (bangs), graduated length around the face. I have had it different lengths over those 9 years but still basically the same style so I began looking on-line at the latest styles to get some ideas. I found a few that I liked but some of them would require a lot of styling everyday and some just wouldn't work with my hair/face. Then I found one that I absolutely adored but it was much shorter than I planned to cut my hair so I posted it to my personal Facebook page and asked for opinions on it, specifically asking what hubby thought of it. He loved it, it would suit me and would be a change for me. Decision made. I would now be going much shorter and making a bigger donation of hair which means that a little girl could be receiving a longer wig and feeling like a little princess again whilst she undergoes treatment for Cancer.
I haven't set the actual date for the cut yet, but it will be in March 2013 so that my layers have time to grow enough to make sure they clear the minimum length required and will coincide with my 40th birthday so that I get to mark the occasion by doing something awesome for someone less fortunate than myself and also get a much needed new look at the same time. I have also decided, after watching numerous hair donation videos on YouTube, that I would prefer to have my hair put into several smaller ponytails for the cut and that I want to cut the first one off myself. I will be discussing all of this with my hairdresser when I go for a trim in December and I am also hoping that they will kindly donate their services to my cause but if they don't I am more than happy to pay anyway.
The links for my chosen charity and my Just Giving page where donations can be made can be found in the text above but I guess I should also show you some photos of my hair now.
This is the style I have chosen to have after my hair has been cut for the donation. I have flipped this photo from the original because I have a half-crown in my fringe and so the sweep-over will need to go in the opposite direction for the style to work with my hair. I will be keeping my own natural colour though.
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