Sarah Shin

On Jan. 6, sophomore Sarah Shin donated eight inches of her hair to Pantene’s Beautiful Lengths. She decided to do so when she recieved 50 likes on her facebook status. “I felt kinda freaked out since most of my hair was gone, but excited to help someone out who needed my hair more than I liked it,” Shin said.

Kids with cancer and other illnesses depend on organizations like Beautiful Length, Locks of Love and Pink Heart Funds to provide them with wigs.

Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between the American Cancer Society and Pantene. They are designed to help women battling cancer. It began in July of 2006 and has since, donated around 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society. Beautiful Lengths requires at least 8 inches of hair, having no dyes, bleaches or chemicals and should be no more then 5% gray.

On Jan. 6, sophomore Sarah Shin donated her hair to Beautiful Lengths. She posted a Facebook status saying “If 50 people like this status, I will cut my hair for cancer.” Shin got a total of 64 likes on her status.

“It only took about 24 hours to get all the likes on my status, and my hair will grow back, I wanted to give it to someone in need and I wanted to make a change and help someone,” Shin said.

Since the age of six, freshman Rachel Osborne has been donating her hair to Locks of Love. She waits two years between each donation to let her hair grow back out.

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that helps kids all around the U.S. and Canada under the age of 21. They donate around 400-500 wigs per year. However the retail price for a hairpiece ranges between $3,500 and $6,000. For kids to receive a hairpiece they must apply online. To donate your hair to Locks of Love it must be at least ten inches long from tip to tip and it must be in a ponytail or braid before it is cut. After it is cut you must mail it in to Locks of Love.

“I love donating to Locks of Love because it is one of the biggest non-profit organizations,” Osborne said, “I hope that getting a wig makes it easier for kids to go through cancer.”

Pink Heart Funds is another organization. Kristen Witt, English Academics Support Center teacher, has donated her hair four times. With Pink Heart Funds it takes seven ponytails to make one wig. They provide free wigs to children and women who have lost their hair no matter what the cause. To donate hair it must be ten inches long, anything less then that is used for bangs. Gray and chemically treated hair is acceptable. After it is cut it must be completely dry before you can mail it in, or it will not be accepted.

“I cut my hair because it grows fast and it’s easy to donate,” Witt said, “I hope that it gives kids one less thing to worry about while they go through a difficult time.”