Thinking about donating… MY HAIR!

For reals.

I’m seriously thinking of cutting my long hair short and donating it to a charity so it can be made into a wig donated to a person who has lost her hair due an illness.

In theory this sounded really easy to do – just pull your hair to a pony tail and cut it off, put the ponytail in a plastic bag and send it to an organization collecting hair for wigs.

After investigating and talking to a few friends, I realized it wasn’t that easy to find a right charity for donating your hair. In fact some even recommended cutting your hair and selling it to a wig company and donating the money for the cause instead of sending your hair straight to some of these non-profit organizations.

Basicly the minimum requirements are 8-12 inches of clean dry hair on a ponytail, not swiped of the floor. The different organizations have different requirements considering if the hair is permed, colored or gray. Here are some organizations to whom you can donate your hair, and their requirements.

Locks of Love is one of the best known non-profit organizations helping all financially disadvantaged children who have lost their hair due medical reasons.

Requirements:
- Minimum of 10″ of hair
- Hair needs to be on a ponytail
- Hair must be free of bleach (nor highlighted). Colored hair and permed is acceptable.
- The hair must be clean and dry, no styling products.
- Gray hair is acceptable

Most of the Locks of Love wig donations go for children suffering of alopecia. Alopecia is an auto-immune disorder that causes the hair follicles to shut down. While Locks of Love is very well known, I read a lot of negative comments of them too. Since they have become very popular, they receive up to 2,000 donations a week, and the amount is just too large for them to handle, and unfortunately as large number as 80% of the hair donations are either sold or thrown into trash according to a New York Times article.

A quota from a New York Times article by Elizabeth Hayt :

“Perhaps they would be less adamant if they could visit Ms. Coffman in the Locks of Love office in Florida. Every day the hanks of hair arrive, filling some 10 postal bins, representing the best intentions of donors, but so much of it destined for the trash.

“A check would be easier for me,” Ms. Coffman said. “But would the donors get out of it what they do? No.” ”

Sounds little too harsh for me, and let’s put it this way: I love my long hair and I’m not going to send it out with good intentions just to be thrown into trash.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths is a campaign of Pantene hair care products (Procter and Gamble brand). Pantene partnered with the Entertainment Industry Foundation and the American Cancer Society to distribute the wigs made from hair donations to cancer patients who have lost their hair due cancer treatment. Women facing cancer can find out about the availability of a Pantene Beautiful Lengths wig by calling the American Cancer Society at 1-877-227-1596.

Requirements:
- Minimum of 8″ of hair
- Hair needs to be on a ponytail
- Hair may be colored with vegetable dyes, rinses and semi-permanent dyes. It cannot be bleached, permanently colored or chemically treated.
- The hair must be clean and dry, no styling products.
- Hair may not be more than 5 percent gray.

Hillary Swank is the face for the Pantene Beautiful Lengths and I have to say I’m always a little cautious when large corporations do charity – too many times the charities are just PR stunts. And not to mention that I normally do not purchase any P&G products, I have been boycotting the company for years due their cruel animal testing. But donating 8 inches of hair sounds much better than 10 or 12, and since this is a large company trying to get PR with this cause, I know they really want the best results – to get the donation numbers as high as possible. But do I want to support P&G?

Wigs for Kids is the oldest charity helping children who have lost hair as a result of chemotherapy, radiation treatments, alopecia, burns, or other medical circumstances.

Requirements:
- Minimum of 12″ of hair
- Hair needs to be on a tight ponytail or braided.
- Hair cannot be chemically processed, no perms, colors or highlighting.
- The hair must be clean and dry, no styling products
- Gray hair is acceptable.

Wigs for Kids would is my number one charity to donate my hair because they are the oldest and the most trusted organization out there, and they help children. But unfortunately my hair is only 11 inches long, and it is colored so my hair won’t qualify for their program.

Looks Like Me is another non-profit organization helping children who have lost their hair due medical reasons. Looks Like Me is based in San Diego and all donations made to the organization are used exclusively to benefit children in San Diego and the surrounding communities.

Requirements:
- Minimum of 12″ of hair
- Hair needs to be on a ponytail or braided.
- Hair can be colored but damaged hair will not be accepted
- The hair must be clean and dry, no styling products
- Gray hair is acceptable.

Again, I would love to help the children in San Diego, but my hair just isn’t long enough.

CHOOSING A CHARITY

I could wait a few months to grow my hair a little longer so I could donate it to Looks Like Me or Wigs For Kids to support a charity I’m the most comfortable with. However, I am very attached to my hair, and to be honest I must be having a temporary brain malfunction for even considering cutting my locks. I’m afraid if I wait a month, I will change my mind and not go through this charitable hair cut. Really, I haven’t had short hair since punk was in in the 80’s.

A problem also is that my hair is colored with no-ammonia hair dye and doesn’t qualify for all programs.

There is also one more charity… which is great for people whose hair isn’t in that great condition, is permed, colored or gray.

Matter of Trust is a non-profit organization to link ideas, spark action and materialize sustainable systems. One of their ways to make the world a better place is to collect human and dog hair and make oil spill hair mats.

Requirements:
- all types, sizes and colors of hair can be donated
- hair clippings of the floor are welcomed
- pet hair is accepted
- all lenghts of hair is accepted

Matter of Trust offers a great option, and while I care about environment dearly, I would much rather send them a monetary donation for the cause than my hair, which I have taken care of for years. This would be an excellent charity for hair saloons though and they could use this for good PR!

This said… I have a hair appointment on Saturday morning 11 o’clock. I have a lot to think about whether I want to give up my hair or not, and which charity to go with if I choose so. Wish me luck! And if you’re trying to call me to make me change my mind, I just disconnected my phone today due the upcoming move and anticipation of the new iPhone…

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