I'm sure many of you have heard about Locks of Love--the organization that accepts donated hair and uses it to make wigs for children who have cancer. Well, in November of my senior year of high school (over 3.5 years ago) I made my first donation to LOL. I wanted to do it for a long time and finally grew my hair long enough to cut it and still have it end up a decent length. Well that ended up being a very emotional day for me--even though I was excited to do it, I ended up crying immediately after the woman cut across the ponytail (which, when I got home I learned was actually 12 inches, not the minimum 10 that I asked for).
Anyway, after making that first donation, I decided that I would grow my hair out again and make another donation ASAP and hopefully turn it into a cyclical event. Well over 3.5 years later, my hair was finally long enough to chop again. So...today I finally cut off another 10 inches of hair and with no tears (but actually a few smiles) I will be sending in my 10 inch ponytail.
I wanted to write about this not to toot my own horn or pat myself on the back but to bring more attention to Locks of Love and encourage people to do what I did today. It's pretty cool, (almost) completely painless, and you're helping children. And...if you don't think you can part with 10 inches of your hair, Locks of Love accepts donations of shorter lengths but rather than use the hair to make wigs, they sell it to help offset manufacturing costs; either way it's a good cause. So go out and cut some hair!!!