Chopping For a Good Cause

This weekend will have me under the scissors - I have been growing out my hair for over a year in order to donate my locks (not for love) to one of the organization that collects hair and makes wigs for children/women with cancer. I am not going through the very popular 'Locks of Love' because they have a lot of requirements that I could not meet...the biggest being a minimum of 10 inches of hair. I do think I have the 10-inches but it's not all 10-inches - my hair is kinda layered.

Therefore, I am going through Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program (the same one Hillary Swank went through). Their minimum length requirement was eight inches and it didn't really specify if it had to be all one length. So I am cutting off about 10-inches on Friday in hopes that a bulk of it falls between the 8-10 inches mark - which by the looks of my mirror, it should. Besides, wigs need bangs and that's what they can use my shorter pieces for.

People have been donating/selling their hair for years. My first exposure to hair selling came from the movie classic, 'Pretty Women' where Jo sold her hair in order to raise more money for her mother's trip. Sure she did it on impulse and knew it was for a good cause, but I'm afraid my reaction will be much like hers in the end- where she's crying later that night because she has no more hair!

I'm trying to feel good about it though. My original plan was to cut it in the spring (2008) but my hair grows pretty slowly - I only get it cut 3-4 times a year. So I had to wait it out for a year to get it to this length. I'm not going to lie - my hair hasn't been this long since I was in elementary school and I'm not going to miss it. As it gets longer, I just shed more (because it's so heavy) and it takes longer to air dry. However, I am not really looking forward to having my hair uber-short - which I haven't had since the 90s.

We will see how it goes - I have complete faith in my hairdresser that I will come out looking good. If I don't - you'll hear about it. I also have to keep telling myself that this is all for a good cause. I'm glad to be able to do it.

For more information about the Pantent Beautiful Lengths Program, read about it here:
http://www.beautifullengths.com/en_US/requirements.jsp