In Which I Donate My Hair

Ever since I was eleven years old, I’ve had an absolute bush of hair. I tend to joke that all the nutrients in my body go directly to my hair and nowhere else. So, it didn’t matter how skinny or scrawny my limbs were. I always had hair and lots of it. Over the last several years, I’ve been of the mind that since God has seen fit to give me a thick mane, it would be nice to share the love around. So many organizations have cropped up over the years to help people like me do just that–donate hair so cancer patients and those with alopecia can have high-quality wigs at a reasonable price or for free.

The last time I cut my hair was two and a half years ago, right before we filmed The Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club. After that, it lay two to three inches below my shoulders. There definitely wasn’t enough there to donate unless I wanted to go butch or pixie. I didn’t. I have very strong opinions on lady’s hair styles which I’m sure no one wants to hear. Suffice it to say that I would only chop my hair if I had plenty of length left over to reach below my shoulders. So the last two and a half years, I’ve been biding my time, letting my hair grow longer and longer…something it’s very good at doing. But the time finally came when I was ready to take the plunge.

On Tuesday, I headed over to the place of reckoning along with my friend, Lydia Hines. She had agreed to take pictures of this momentous occasion so I could share them with you. We arrived in good time and got down to business. Laura House greeted us at her door. (She was the first person to cut my locks last time and did a fantastic job.) I explained to her what I wanted to do, and she pulled out a ruler and started measuring how much to take off. I had decided to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which requires only 8 inches. Though I’m sure Locks of Love is a good organization, I became a bit disillusioned with them once I found out they don’t give their wigs to patients for free and don’t always offer them to cancer patients. I figured if I was going to donate my hair, I’d like the finished product to make it onto the head of a patient without becoming another financial burden to them.

The next step was to put a pony tail just below where Laura would make the cut to contain it and keep it from getting all tangled. We ended up taking off twelve inches. My ends were a bit dry and my old layers had not completely grown out, so we wanted to make sure that when I sent the hair into Pantene it wouldn’t just get pitched. How sad would that be? But as you can see, I had a lot of hair left anyway.

Snip, the went the scissors and off came my hair!

I put my pony tail in a ziplock bag and Laura went to work on the rest of my hair. While she worked, the family dog, Cricket, came around to investigate, nose my hand and generally behave in a cute fashion.

And then, the job was done. Every time I cut my hair after having it long for several years, my head feels so light. Plus my hair is naturally wavy, so as soon as the weight comes off, up it springs. Here’s what I look like now:

So there you have it. My hope is that this post might inspire other girls who have been blessed in the hair department to give some away, too. If you’re like me, you know it’s going to grow back, bigger and stronger by next year. What’s to lose? If you are interested in doing this sometime, just follow this link to Pantene’s hair donation requirements and donation instructions. It’s very simple and straight-forward.

That’s all for today. Hope everyone has a great week!