They say hair holds karma -- and that cutting it off means letting go of your karma and allowing yourself a fresh start. I cut eight inches off my hair recently, and while I'm not sure I gave myself a fresh start, I certainly hope I gave someone else that opportunity.
I gave my hair to the Pantene Pro-V's Beautiful Lengths Program, one of several that allows you to donate long hair to women and children in need, usually cancer patients. It was tough to choose a program. All of them represent a good cause, and many of them link with salons or organize events offering free cuts by really great stylists.
My mother donated her hair to Locks of Love a few years back when her brother was struggling with cancer. It's the most high profile organization dedicated to this cause, but while it does great work, often running large-scale campaigns at schools and on campuses, Locks of Love has also been criticized for accepting more donations than they can use. Sometimes the donated hair ends up being thrown away. Wigs for Kids only donates to children -- a worthy cause, for sure, but children don't always feel the same social pressure to wear a wig, and may not miss having a wig made with real hair. Adults do.
I chose to donate my long locks to the Beautiful Lengths Program for a variety of reasons. I liked that they donated wigs to adult women via the American Cancer Society;
they link with a salon near my office that offers free cuts by senior stylists on any day but Saturday (Mark Garrison Salon, www.markgarrisonsalon.com); and their minimum donation is only 8 inches of hair. (Other programs ask for 10 or 12 inches, but I wasn't ready for anything too drastic).
For most women, hair is part of our identity; losing it, while undergoing the difficulties of disease, treatment, and recovery, is particularly traumatic. I'd had long hair most of my life and was glad to share part of what makes me who I am with someone else. It didn't seem like a big sacrifice.
If you are interested in donating, keep in mind that hair should be untreated. It takes about six donations to make one wig, so all hair donations are dyed and treated hair soaks up color more easily.
More information on each of there programs can be found on this list compiled by the New York Times, and of course on their websites.
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Go on with your bad self, Nandini, and thanks for letting us know about this great opportunity to help out women and kids with cancer. And your new do is pretty fabulous:)
ive wanted to do this for several years as i have incredibly thick hair. i just lose patience with the growing process and chop it all off again. this time, im sticking with it. when i get sick of my hair length, it will be doing some good.
I donated my hair to Locks of Love. I heard all the allegations against them, and read up on their policies. Yes, sometimes they do throw away donated hair. A large portion of the hair that is donated to them is too short or otherwise inappropriate for donation. Their requirements for donated hair are right on the website, but many people donate hair without taking the time to read those guidelines. Not only is the donation wasted, but it takes time and resources for Locks of Love to sort through the hair and throw away the unusable donations. I am sure all programs which accept donated hair have this problem. Please read the guidelines!
They also sometimes sell the hair rather than making it into wigs. Human hair wigs are very expensive, and they have to fund their work. I don't have a problem with them selling hair.
They sometimes provide artificial hair wigs rather than human hair wigs. They only give human hair wigs to people suffering from permanent hair loss. If the hair loss is temporary, as with cancer patients, they give a false hair wig instead. I think this is reasonable.
I've actually never heard the saying about Hair and karma, but I would definitely believe it's true because cutting my own hair was such a powerful experience, and I wanted to do it as a reward to myself for over coming a particularly bad time in my life. Thanks for telling all of the women here where they can donate. I couldn't donate my own hair because it had a lot of damage done to it.
I donated my hair after I graduated high school, because I did indeed, want a fresh start, and I loathed the thought of my hair ending up wasted in a hairdresser's garbage can. I love the idea of hair doing more good for someone long after it's left one's head.
You brought tears to my eyes. I lost all my hair during chemotherapy. I've always had absolutely gorgeous natural red hair and when it started coming out, I empowered myself and shaved my head.
It was easier to deal with it that way. I didn't cry at first, it wasn't until even the fuzzy part came out and I was skin bald-BALD; that I realized my hair was GONE.
It's "just hair" but I missed it so much and cried about it everytime I saw a shampoo commercial.
I can't tell you how appreciative women like me ARE when we get real hair wigs and it feels like we are "normal" again.
I got a real hair wig and cried when I put it on and it looked so real and felt so natural.
Thank you thank you thank you......from someone who has been there and received one of these, from the the bottom of my heart. thank you.
Now you KNOW what good you've done...I don't advise people to go and do this, but when I hear about it...I always tear up and want to hug them.
It's the most precious gift someone can give to people like me. It's "just hair" but it's more than that to us.
It's feeling "normal" again, looking "normal"...having that familiar feeling of having hair and not being looked at like a diseased leper.
Again, thank you so much!!!
Sincerely,
Jennifer - a Breast Cancer survivor.
HUGS HUGS HUGS
I have a bit of a rant to go on. Great post, but there is something that I feel needs to be addressed when one decides which advocate of a particular cause to support:
When pondering who to donate to, I always go with a non-profit rather than a corporation's "Feel Good and Buy More Stuff" campaign. There are two reasons for this. One, there is something called "pink washing" that occurs when a company associates itself with some female related cause in order to sell more product. (Yogurt anyone?) Their ultimate motive is not to stop cancer, but to sell more stuff by getting consumers to feel as if that they can buy AND save the world in one felt swipe of a credit card. In reality, do we know whether or not Pantene's products carry chemicals that have been linked to cancer? For instance, the above mentioned Yoplait (with the pink lid) contains rBGH, a growth hormone injected into cows that has been linked to breast cancer. And two, how much is the company in question actually giving and is it information that one can easily determine by glancing at a label? You would have to eat three yogurts for a month to raise $36.00 for breast cancer research. For more info check out thinkbeforeyoupink.org or bcaction.org. I saw a woman speak from this org, and their mission is to actually stop cancer by exposing pink washers and redirecting that focus to organizations that are more serious in their efforts.
ive heard about this. when at all possible, i avoid the "pink" boxes of crap during october. i usually by generic anyway, but i have a hard time believing makers of processed food, who use GM crops, artificial colours/preservatives/trans fats really give a crap about people's health.
That's three yoogurts A DAY for a month. Sorry for the typo.
Again, yogurts, not YOOGURTS. I get so fired up that my fingers slip in a frenzy ;)
I actually sell all of my hair. One can get several hundred dollars for each plait.
Yeah, that really pisses me off... a lot of companies do the "Will donate 1.00 of every $1,000,000,000 we get" wow, like that's "helping" at all. It's merely a marketing technique and it really makes me angry that companies are profitting off it....
What about uterine cancer? cervical cancer? prostate cancer? shaken baby syndrom? Autism?
Nope, it's the breast cancer crap that sells....
i don't buy it because it's just a "fad"....
Sorry,I am sure there ARE some genuinely good things that come out of some companies..but most just want to make a buck.
I learned earlier this fall that guys really don't get how girls identify with their hair. I let a friend cut my hair and he suddenly cut off more than expected. I was so upset. He ended up cutting off a bit more and it looked good but another guy said, It looks great. I don't get why you are upset.
That's not fair...stereotyping all guys like that. You'll find quite a few guys who identify with their hair. Of course, when guys do that, they're considered vain and are made fun of(ie. McDreamy and his many hair products etc). Also, there are more than a few long-haired guys who decide not to take certain jobs because those jobs would require men to conform to society's expectation of what men should look like - that is, having short hair.
I get what you mean about the cutting off more than you asked for. I have shoulder length layered hair and everytime I go to my stylist, I have to constantly remind him not to take too much off...I find that some stylists tend to take off more than you tell them to take off...which leaves you with a very different cut and if you're not ready for shorter hair, leaves you feeling "naked."
My Ponca friend said his tribe believes that all of your life's experiences are in your hair.
Back in 2004 I lopped off 20 inches of hair and donated it to Locks of Love. I didn't know there were any other alternatives and I wanted the damn hair gone. I had just left my abuser of 2.5 years and he loved my long hair. New life, wanted new hair.
I highly recommend http://www.OnlineHairAffair.com to sell your hair. One of the reasons why is because they are ran like an auction so everyone sees what the lastest offer was. They also provide a safe and smooth transaction by using paypal. theres also a feedback system in place to show users who is serious about buying and selling. They the most professional site out for selling and buying hair. the info they give their users is just amazing ranging from Hot to place the perfect ad (with photos) they also talk about biotin which is a vitamin to help grow your hair twice as fast! If your going to sell your hair sell it on http://www.OnlineHairAffair.com
I highly recommend http://www.OnlineHairAffair.com to sell your hair. One of the reasons why is because they are ran like an auction so everyone sees what the lastest offer was. They also provide a safe and smooth transaction by using paypal. theres also a feedback system in place to show users who is serious about buying and selling. They the most professional site out for selling and buying hair. the info they give their users is just amazing ranging from Hot to place the perfect ad (with photos) they also talk about biotin which is a vitamin to help grow your hair twice as fast! If your going to sell your hair sell it on http://www.OnlineHairAffair.com