Donating my hair has been on my Bucket List since I first learned about it in the early 90’s. I have tried to grow it long enough a couple of times but I always got annoyed with it and chopped it off before it got long enough. This time was different, I was bound and determined to donate so I could finally cross it off my list! It has taken me about 3 years I would say (because I kept going on to get it cut!). After finally reaching the point where it was finally long enough, and where I was so annoyed enough to actually chop my long, luscious mass of golden locks, I made up my mind to get a pixie cut (another item on the Bucket List).
About 2 weeks ago, I found a text from April 2013 that I had sent to my neighbor, who has a pixie cut, asking for her hairdressers name. This was the moment I thought “Geez, have I really been talking about doing this for almost 2 years?” The next day I went for my consult with Wendy. Finding a stylist who is skilled at pixie cuts, and about cutting hair for donation is very important so I turned to Yelp and read a lot of reviews before settling on Wendy. I went in for a consultation and she made me feel very confident that I could pull off a pixie and also encouraged me to look into charities other than Locks of Love. I scheduled the hair cut appointment for later that week and went home to look into where I was going to send my hair.
After researching Locks of Love a bit further, I decided that since I was so emotionally attached to my locks and the reason I was donating was to be able to help a child who was in need of a hair piece. On the LOL website, it clearly states that they sell hair to offset the costs of manufacturing hair pieces and that they charge the recipients up to $3000 in some cases. WHAT?!?! Yup, that’s right! They do say they have a sliding fee scale and some children receive their wigs free of charge, but in my opinion, a child should not be denied the opportunity to improve their self-esteem at such a critical point in their lives due to their parents ability to pay. This division between the worthy and unworthy really struck a cord with me.
As I looked further I found other websites and news articles bringing the validity of the organization into question. Apparently in May 2013, there was an investigation into how many donations of hair were received and how may hair pieces were actually made and distributed. The discrepancy was horrifying. But one thing was clear, this was NOT the place where I would be sending my hair. I would be devastated if I found out that my hair was sold to line the pockets of some corrupt administrator rather than to help a child in need.
I was able to find two other organizations that use the hair they receive and do not charge the children who receive wigs: Wigs for Kids and Children With Hair Loss. I chose to donate to the latter as they are a Detroit area charity (being from the Detroit area I liked this) and they were very appreciative and helpful when I called to ask a few questions. One thing I really likes about CWHL is that they do not sell any of their hair. Now these charities stricter guidelines as far as the types of donations they will accept (obviously because they are not selling the hair) but if you really want your hair to be used for the intended purpose, I would go with either of these. As an aside, I did not chose Wigs for Kids because I received conflicting answers on the phone when I asked whether or not my hair would be used since it was permed 10 months ago. One person said it would and the other said it needed to be 12 months since the perm and again, I didn’t want my hair to go to waste so CWHL was the best fit for me. I do believe that Wigs for Kids is a wonderful organization as well!
Although I have received a lot of positive feedback about my donation and my new look, I did not do this for any reason other than my hope to be able to improve the life of a child. If donating your locks has been on your Bucket List, do it! It will grow back! #TheLotusDen #CWHL #ItWillGrowBack
For details on making a hair or monetary donation to CWHL go to www.childrenwithhairloss.us/
To donate and get a rockin’ new cut see Wendy at The Lotus Den in Oceanside, CA and don’t forget to mention my blog!
You can check out their website at www.lotusdenhairstudio.com
This was me before I cut off 13″ of my lovely locks to send to Children With Hair Loss
Unfiltered Mommy 
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