Have You or would You donate Your Hair?

Hi evryone!

 I realize people with Long hair Love it. However would You ever consider donating (at least 10 inches)of Your hair for (I think Cancer patients) to make wigs for "Locks of Love"?

 I feel so stupid, back in summer of 2002, I had at least 15 inches of Hair, and instead of donating it to Locks of Love, I simply chopped it off myself.

 It would take at least 3 years to grow it that long again, but all I want is hair to my shoulders. However if I could turn back the clock, I would've donated at least 10 inches for wigs for cancer patients.

 I know that's a hard decision for many,. I was just wondering what everyone thought about that topic.

 God Bless, See Ya!

I'm going to try to answer your question in a way that is fair to everyone concerned. This topic used to start fights, so don't be surprised if they wind up locking it to avoid trouble. 

First, if I ever decided to chop off a fair portion of my hair, I don't think I'd mind sending it to them, its either that or the trash, and I like to recycle what I can.  Many hate this organization, and would not.  Would I ever cut it off just for them?  No.  They are not worthy of that in my opinion because they are not up-front enough in their business dealings.  Their Better business report states that they made 150,000 bucks one year selling hair (and the wigs for the kids are supposed to be free, so they are sold to others presumably). They should be more upfront about where unused hair goes so donors know their hair may not go to a sick child, and about where they make their money.  Sure, they need to make money to pay for the free wigs, they should just say so and people would be fine with that instead of appearing dishonest by never mentioning where the money comes from and the tons of extra hair they receive goes.  A lot of people hate this organization because many with long hair get harassed by some of their over-zealous representatives.  No one should go up to someone and tell them how to spend their charity.  Its very rude.

LOL will never see a strand of my hair nor will any other charity. I know it's selfish but I won't ask for a wig from anywhere either. I'd cut my own hair and have a wig made from it if needed.

I donate money and time.
I donate charity event proceeds.
I would donate my blood if my medical condition didn't prevent it.
I do not donate hair.  

Blessed be  
Anais

I get asked all the time if I intend to donate my hair.

That's great if someone specifically wants to spend all the time and effort into growing out their hair simply to give it away, but that does not mean that's what everyone wants to do.  No thanks!

Hi All,

 I agree with all of you.

 I was simply curious.

 I have never told anyone what to do with their hair. In fact I'm a bit of a rebel, and do new things, long, medium, or short, and I love to experiment with color too.

 Thanks for your input.

 I realize how annoying my Twin sister was when she told me , after I cut my hair really short, that some girl she knew had her long hair chopped and cheerfully donated it to locks of love.

 I didn't know how shady that organization was or can be,...

 Lets forget this thread, I do appeciate everones views.

 take care, God Bless!

Let's stay this civilized and we won't need to forget the thread; there are some new people who's input could be interesting   Aren't we a friendly bunch?

I wouldn't donate my hair.  If I ever cut my hair (I would have to be heavily drugged or something, but anyway...) I would keep it to use in my art.  If I got cancer myself, and knew I would lose my hair, i would make a wig from my own.  If a close friend or my sister got cancer I would offer them my hair for a wig. 

God willing I will never be in that kind of situation.  But I'm as likely to donate my hair to a cancer patient as I am to donate a breast - not very

I agree 100% with what everyone else said about the shadiness of LOL and other such organizations.

However, I will admit that I've donated my hair to them twice.  I saw a 20/20 special about it and thought it was a really great idea, so I donated about 15 inches- my first major haircut.  A year or so later, I donated 10 more inches.  When I found out about LOL's issues with the Better Business Bureau, I was infuriated that I'd hacked off my beloved hair for nothing.  Five years have gone by and I will never donate my hair again.

Furthermore, many people I know see me growing my hair now and ask if I'm going to donate it.  And when I say no, they act like I'm being selfish and mention how they've donated theirs x amount of times.  I tell people my reasons for not doing it (mostly how untrustworthy I find LOL to be) and they act like I'm just making it up because I want an excuse to be decadent and keep my long hair. 

I guess hair donation is a good idea in theory, but these organizations need to be seriously reformed.  Fake hair wigs are much easier to take care of than real hair wigs anyway.  I mean, think about how damaged your hair can get.  And then think about having that damage without being able to use exercise, vitamins & minerals, your body's natural proteins, etc. to rejuvenate your hair.  I see the self-esteem issues that could arise from wearing synthetic hair, but let's be practical here.  Seriously.

Hopefully they won't lock this topic; it may get a little heated but I think it's important for people to see and contribute to.

I think this is one of the few boards where people consistenly stay level headed.Which is probably the main reason its my favorite anymore.The other boards can be a bit much sometimes,lol.

I had no idea the LOL was so shady.I had heard people say they wouldnt donate to them.I never really cared knowing if my hair were long I wouldnt donate it.It takes time and work to grow and maintain long healthy hair.I definitely dont think thats being selfish.I agree with purplebubba,I think everyone should decide for themselves.To some their hair is just kind of their.And for others its like a part of their body.cutting it off would be like losing an arm.I guess my main thing is how disturbing it is that they are making a profit off of this charity?! Or am I confused.Isnt that illegal.

I don't know how much they actually get to take home, if anyone cares to analyze it, you can find it on the better business bureau's website http://www.give.org/reports/care2_dyn.asp?733

It shows all their spending and how much they made, how much the boss gets for an annual salary, etc.  I assume what they make isn't illegal because the better business bureau does not seem to have a problem with that aspect of it?  I'm not worried about it enough to do the calculating right now myself.  Like I said in my post above, they do make 150,000 bucks in hair sales, and that's the part I felt they should fess up about to their donors, (that their hair may be used for an alopecia areata patient, or may be sold to someone who just wants a wig or extensions).  Like I say, I know they need to make money to survive, and I'm not holding a grudge against them for that, but I wouldn't cut just for them because they should be more honest.  Not just reporting it to the better business bureau, but stating on their website exactly how the process works for all the donors to see what may happen to their hair and make their own decisions based on it.

I think this is one of the few boards where people consistenly stay level headed.Which is probably the main reason its my favorite anymore.The other boards can be a bit much sometimes,lol.

I had no idea the LOL was so shady.I had heard people say they wouldnt donate to them.I never really cared knowing if my hair were long I wouldnt donate it.It takes time and work to grow and maintain long healthy hair.I definitely dont think thats being selfish.I agree with purplebubba,I think everyone should decide for themselves.To some their hair is just kind of their.And for others its like a part of their body.cutting it off would be like losing an arm.I guess my main thing is how disturbing it is that they are making a profit off of this charity?! Or am I confused.Isnt that illegal.

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Thank you Long Hair for your kind words about HairTalk.  We try very very hard on an hourly basis to monitor boards and make sure that we do stay level headed.

My biggest problem with LOL, other than the heavily doc*mented shadiness factor, is that I get so many emails from desparately unhappy young girls who were coerced, forced, harrassed to donate their hair by family, friends, society...because it was "the unselfish" thing to do.  Never mind that their hair may never even wind up in a wig for a deserving person.  It breaks my heart to see their very sad first reaction "after the fact".  They cry, they ask for ways to grow their hair back "as fast as possible" and they confess that they would never have done if they had not been forced. 

It makes me furious while breaking my heart at the same time.  There is already so many things that destroy many young people's chances at developing a positive self esteem.  Now there is pressure from them to give up their hair or be branded selfish.  What message does that promote?

Also, you have no idea how many Press Releases I get on a daily basis where some the latest small town paper touts the latest teen who chopped it all off "for a good cause".  It is like reporters who have nothing better to write about focus on your girls being forced to chop off their beloved locks.  Which of course then just promotes the cause more because of the human desire to be "in the news".

Literally I get one a day lately.  So sad.

I am not against charity nor am I specifically against LOL.  I believe in good causes, charity & helping people in need.  I also believe that people can donate to any great cause by having car washes, bake sales, corporate sponsored runs, saving & donating their pennies.  Hairboutique.com has donated literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Red Cross to help with the hurricane disaster efforts.  We didn't require anyone to cut off any body parts to do that. 

And yes, if this topic goes into the ring, it will be locked.  :-)

I would never cut my hair short anyway now, I'll be one of those white haired granny's with waist length hair , but I think it's truly awful that something like LOL is shady. I bet it wasn't like that when it started out, it's as it's grown and become a "business" that it's gotten like that.

I've never been asked to donate my hair, maybe it doesn't happen so much in the UK, if anyone did I would tell them it's MY hair and I want to keep it. I could always donate cash or something if they tried to take me on a guilt-trip.

I've been pestered many times by stylists wanting me to donate my hair to LoL as well as random strangers first complimenting me on my hair then asking if I'm growing it just to donate it.

The answer is always NO!  Plain and simple.

No way.

I'd send money but not my hair or my arm or my leg. 

Human hair wigs are very hard to care for (used to work as a hair stylist and have worked with quite a few; most of my clients preferred synthetic wash-and-dry wigs).

SF

okay guys, i would actually donate hair if i wanted it cut off cuz there is no reason to cut hair off is there unless you want to use it for something like locks of love.....

but i wouldn't donate hair if i didn't have to or didn't want it cut..