Many women – and some men – have grown their hair long for the purpose of cutting it and donating it for wigs for cancer patients. However, many people don’t realize that much of the hair that is donated is unusable and is thus discarded. What is the best way to prepare hair for donation?
There are two popular organizations that accept hair donations to be made into wigs for children or adults suffering from hair loss due to an illness like cancer. Learn more about each program and what hair donations are accepted. It is important to read all of the requirements from the benefiting organization before cutting hair for donation.
Any organization that accepted donated hair requires that the hair is clean, dry and in a ponytail or braid. The entire ponytail or braid should be cut off, and hair should be kept bound during the donation process. The hair should be placed is a clean zip-locked bag and mailed to the benefiting organization in a padded envelope. Neither organization listed below will accept hair that has been bleached. The minimum length of hair that is accepted varies by organization.
Locks of Love
The most popular organization for hair donations is Locks of Love. They provide hairpieces for financially disadvantaged children (under age 21) from the United States and Canada who are suffering from long-term medical hair loss. Most of the children who receive wigs from Locks of Love aren’t cancer patients but have a condition called alopecia areata.
Locks of Love only uses donated hair that is 10 inches or longer. They will accepted colored or permed hair. They will also accept gray hair, but that hair is sold and the proceeds offset the cost of manufacturing the wigs.
Pantene Beautiful Lengths
Pantene has partnered with HairUWear, a manufacturer of wigs and other hair pieces, to make human hair wigs for women fighting cancer. The wigs are distributed through select American Cancer Society wig banks.
Pantene Beautiful Lengths will accept hair that is a minimum of 8 inches long, not more than five percent gray and not permanently colored or chemically treated.
Prepare Hair for Donation
There are some steps hair donors can take to make sure their hair is in the best possible condition when it is donated.
- Use condition after every wash of hair, use leave-in condition for extra protection when using heated hair appliances and use a deep-conditioning treatment once a week.
- Use a wide-tooth comb to brush wet hair, and towel-dry hair as much as possible before blow-drying.
- Use a root-lifter to add volume to hair instead of teasing.
- Don’t over brush hair, this can lead to breakage.
- Get hair trimmed at least every eight weeks.
Donating hair for cancer patients is a unique selfless act of charity. It doesn’t cost the donor anything (assuming he or she would get a hair cut anyway), and can provide someone fighting cancer or another disease confidence. What’s more, some salons may even cut hair for free if they know it will be donated. Ask ahead to find out for sure.
Maggie Wolff - Maggie has over seven years of experience in public relations and marketing in the fields of healthcare, performing arts, and professional ...
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