Hair Donation
You know, nobody ever looks at you when you're wearing a pretty shawl you made and says "That's a gorgeous shawl, are you planning to donate it?"
But if you've got long hair, people ask if you're growing to donate it, and always mention Locks of Love. Some of them even donated to Locks of Love and tell you the story of it.
We donate time and energy to a lot of charities we believe in. I'm not growing my hair for donation, I'm growing it for myself. If I *were* going to donate it, it wouldn't be to Locks of Love.
First- My hair doesn't qualify. Check their guidelines. If a stylist accepted your permed or colored hair as a donation, it was either thrown out or sold when it reached them. My hair is not permed or dyed, it's heavily silvered though, and the site says clearly it will be accepted and sold. Length minimum- 10 inches
Second- People think that Locks of Love provides wigs to kids with cancer, but it says right on their front page, that's NOT their primary mission. Chemotherapy is considered a temporary condition, and you have to qualify with references and a written essay to be considered for a wig on a which they pay for on a sliding scale from Locks of Love.
Locks of Love is the most well known place to donate hair to though, so they aren't suffering for donations. There are a lot of beauty shops up here that offer free cuts if you're donating to Locks of Love, and they've never even HEARD of some of the other options.
For permantly dyed, bleached or permed hair, I recommend Matter of Trust, they are running active programs using hair as renewable surplus source, and they do accept dyed or permed hair as long as it's clean. The hair is used for cleaning up oil spills, also they are working on making products to sell to fund their other projects like mats for garages, or hair mats for growing plants. Any length fine, and if you talk to your local salon or barber, they will accept sweepings as well. So if you're getting a couple inches trimmed off professionally, you can bag that up and send it to them, or better, get your local barber or salon to start donating sweepings regularly.
For hair that colored only with natural semi-permanent dyes, natural hair, or hair that's up to 5% silver, consider Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. They make wigs for women and children with cancer. This is where E's going to be donating her hair. Length minimum- 8 inches
Wigs for Kids is the other organization we seriously considered, they provide wigs at no charge for children going through chemotherapy. Grey hair acceptable, chemically treated hair isn't. Minimum length- 12 inches
Just to think about.
I'm still not donating mine. But I refuse to feel guilty about my long hair, and doubly refuse when someone driving a big brand new urban assault vehicle that uses natural resources like I drink coffee tries to make me feel bad about it. Because you know, they could sell that and buy a bus pass and give the difference to a local soup kitchen.
But if you've got long hair, people ask if you're growing to donate it, and always mention Locks of Love. Some of them even donated to Locks of Love and tell you the story of it.
We donate time and energy to a lot of charities we believe in. I'm not growing my hair for donation, I'm growing it for myself. If I *were* going to donate it, it wouldn't be to Locks of Love.
First- My hair doesn't qualify. Check their guidelines. If a stylist accepted your permed or colored hair as a donation, it was either thrown out or sold when it reached them. My hair is not permed or dyed, it's heavily silvered though, and the site says clearly it will be accepted and sold. Length minimum- 10 inches
Second- People think that Locks of Love provides wigs to kids with cancer, but it says right on their front page, that's NOT their primary mission. Chemotherapy is considered a temporary condition, and you have to qualify with references and a written essay to be considered for a wig on a which they pay for on a sliding scale from Locks of Love.
Locks of Love is the most well known place to donate hair to though, so they aren't suffering for donations. There are a lot of beauty shops up here that offer free cuts if you're donating to Locks of Love, and they've never even HEARD of some of the other options.
For permantly dyed, bleached or permed hair, I recommend Matter of Trust, they are running active programs using hair as renewable surplus source, and they do accept dyed or permed hair as long as it's clean. The hair is used for cleaning up oil spills, also they are working on making products to sell to fund their other projects like mats for garages, or hair mats for growing plants. Any length fine, and if you talk to your local salon or barber, they will accept sweepings as well. So if you're getting a couple inches trimmed off professionally, you can bag that up and send it to them, or better, get your local barber or salon to start donating sweepings regularly.
For hair that colored only with natural semi-permanent dyes, natural hair, or hair that's up to 5% silver, consider Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. They make wigs for women and children with cancer. This is where E's going to be donating her hair. Length minimum- 8 inches
Wigs for Kids is the other organization we seriously considered, they provide wigs at no charge for children going through chemotherapy. Grey hair acceptable, chemically treated hair isn't. Minimum length- 12 inches
Just to think about.
I'm still not donating mine. But I refuse to feel guilty about my long hair, and doubly refuse when someone driving a big brand new urban assault vehicle that uses natural resources like I drink coffee tries to make me feel bad about it. Because you know, they could sell that and buy a bus pass and give the difference to a local soup kitchen.