We spent Memorial Day canoeing with friends whom we hadn’t seen for a while. It’s amazing how children grow when you aren’t looking!  Our friend’s seven year old daughter (almost eight she kept reminding us) looked so different because her short haircut had grown out into a long one.

With summer coming and the weather in the 90s already some days, her mother said she was going to cut the hair and give it away to someone who needs it.  So, of course, I thought I must write about the programs to do that today. 

I know of two—Locks of Love and Beautiful Lengths.  Locks of Love doesn’t keep a list of participating salons but instead explains in detail what you need to do to donate.  The part of your hair that you cut off must be in a ponytail or braid and be at least 10 inches long. It can be colored or permed but not bleached.

They have a donation form you can print out at their website, but you don’t need it to donate.  Just put your name and address on a sheet of paper in the padded envelope you mail the hair in so they can send you an acknowledgement. Make sure the hair is sealed in a ziplock bag as well.

The hair goes into wigs and hairpieces for children with medical hair loss. You can also donate to the cause by getting a key tag and using it while shopping at Albertson’s stores. They’ll donate a percentage to Locks of Love based on what you buy.  Locks of Love also sells Gund bears and Jordann necklaces and bracelets to offset costs.  The retail cost of the hairpieces are between $3,500 and $6,000 so you will be helping a child who probably could not afford a natural hair wig otherwise.

Beautiful Lengths is a similar program but instead of children, the hair goes to make wigs for women with cancer.  They only require the hair to be eight inches long but it can’t be processed in any way because they use six ponytails to make a wig and each one is colored to be the same shade. The hair doesn’t take the dye the same way if it has been colored or processed before so it wouldn’t match the other ponytails. Locks of Love accepts gray hair to be sold for operating expenses but Beautiful Lengths does not.

Both programs have materials to help you organize a party event to get lots of people to donate at once.  I’ll have to talk to my friend and see if she would be interested in doing that.  They own a nail salon so they have a place we could do it as well. 

But whether or not we do an event, it still is something that one person can do to help another that costs only the amount of shipping. While your hair is growing, you can know that it has helped a boy or girl with no hair or a woman who lost her hair to cancer.