CityView Magazine

giving Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow I A local woman has a habit of donating her locks BY AMANDA EVANS high ponytail, a customer came in and asked me if I had ever thought about selling my hair. I was taken aback by the ques- tion, and then she told me she had cancer and that people pay "top dollar" for hair like mine. She also told me that people donate their hair. It sounded interesting … but as a teenager, I wasn't ready to get rid of my tresses. A few years later I found myself in the Air Force with hair have been blessed with thick hair that grows quickly and stays relatively healthy. About 20 years ago, while scooping ice cream at my hometown Baskin Robbins with my thick golden locks pulled back into a that hung down to my waist. For those of you who've been in the military, you know it's not easy to maintain hair like that. It's got to be pinned up on your head all day, everyday. I re- called the discussion from years before and started research- ing the hair donation program called Locks of Love. Locks of 36 | May/June • 2012 Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hair- pieces to financially disadvantaged children under the age of 21 in the United States and Canada who are suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. It sounded like a great mission and I loved the fact the wigs were being made for kids. My first "chop" happened in the late 1990s, when I donated an entire foot of hair to Locks of Love. I have since grown my hair out and cut off over a foot for donation four separate times. Luckily, and as I already mentioned, my hair grows pretty fast. Aſter only about two or three years, it's usually ready to be chopped again. I have donated 52 inches of hair in all. Although I never see the final product, it feels great knowing my hair has gone into wigs to help children feel a little bit normal again as they fight a horrible disease that has made them bald. It's easy to donate hair. You simply mail your pony tail

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