Life | On Donating Hair

Yep, that’s 18 inches of hair right there, currently sealed in a ziploc bag and about to be shipped off to be made into a wig for a beautiful woman battling cancer. You may have read last week that ever since the big chop of ’96(ish) I have sincerely regretted not donating my hair. A couple years ago I decided to grow out my hair as long as I could stand it, then chop it all off to donate. Remember the before?

That hair was taking over my life. As you can see in the above photo, it was trying to attack me. It was time for the big cut.

This is what 18 inches of freedom looks like.
As soon as the ponytail was chopped off I felt completely elated. I would have been happy if we left the hair cut just like that! I thought I would feel a tinge of remorse, but there was absolutely none. I was so excited to get this weight off my shoulders (quite literally) and donate it to someone who really needs it.

I did a fair bit of research and asking around before decided who I wanted to donate to. Since I had a lot of hair that was never treated or dyed and had few greys (sigh) I wanted to find a place that had strict regulations. It was also important to me that they didn’t charge cancer patients for their wigs, and that it was either local on the provincial or national level. So I chose the Pantene Pro V Beautiful Lengths Program.
If you’re thinking about donating your hair, here are some things to consider beforehand:

• Do a lot of research first and ask around before selecting your donation place
• Find a place foremost who fits with what you can give – hair length, greys, treated hair etc. Then think about what’s most important to you – location, accessibility, women, men, children, etc
• Make sure you read the requirements carefully, including how they’d like the hair packaged after it’s cut. Most will want a dry ponytail secure with an elastic at the top
• Bring a ziploc bag with you to the hair salon
• Mail the hair yourself. Don’t leave it for the salon to send as it might not get to where you want

While I l-o-v-e having short hair, I’m still figuring it out and learning how to style it. To be perfectly honest, I think I could even go shorter ;) Would you like to donate hair, or have you in the past?
What have your experiences been?