I Cut Off All My Hair and Donated It

I've been pulling my hair back in a bun every day for a long as I can remember (or at least as long as it was up to me how I wore my hair).  I'd get a hair cut ever 4-5 months to take care of some of the weight, but the style didn't matter too much to me since as soon as I left the chair it would be right back up!  I'm not against my hair being down...I would just rather sleep the extra 30 minutes instead of spending it blow drying my hair.

A few years ago, I decided I should do some good with my hair since it's hidden every day, so I started growing it out all year so I could cut it off and donate it!  March 2012 was my first time donating my hair - I had 12 inches to donate!  I was planning on donating to Locks of Love, because it was the only hair donation company I knew of, until a friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook letting me know about Pantene Great Lengths.  His sister had lost all of her hair when she was young and had cancer, so his family did a lot of research about hair donation companies.  They found out Locks of Love sells a good bit of their "unusable hair" to companies who then use it to make wigs (doesn't sound too unusable to me), and made $1.9 million from hair sales from 2001-2006 -  so there's a good chance your hair may not be used.

As I did research on Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program, I knew it was the one I wanted to go with.  Another nice thing about Beautiful Lengths is that you only have to cut 8" to donate - far less than the other programs out there.  Check out their requirements to see if you're eligible to donate.  I can't imagine an easier thing to do that would mean SO much to someone battling cancer.

Ann and I got haircuts together and both cut a LOT of hair off.  I think I freaked my stylist out when I told her the main thing (besides making sure there is enough to donate) is that I HAVE to be able to still pull it up once it's cut.  Last time I donated, it took a month before I could get it all back.  She was also pretty amazed at how quickly my hair grows.  We figured out it grew over 12" in 16 months (apparently the average is 1/2 inch per month).  Here's the before and after!