<p>My D donated her hair for locks of love in 8th grade. She decided she wanted to do it again. She is a junior now. She has amazing copper colored curly locks. People love her hair. She knew it would end up short. You have to understand that my D hates hair product and just pulls her hair back in a pony tail or bun every day. I tried to warn her that this time to get the 10 inches her hair might not be able to be pulled back after cutting.
Got the hair cut today, now I am expecting 3 months of angst in my house. I should have talked her out of it! Don’t think I can bear the months until she is able to pull the hair back again.
Her haircut looks phenomenal, but of course she HATES it and is in tears. OY!!!</p>
<p>For future reference, Beautiful Lengths (a similar program) only needs 8 inches.</p>
<p>oyyyyy. Desk Potato, if I had only known. won’t tell D that now!!!</p>
<p>Hopefully when she goes to school tomorrow, her friends will tell her how great her hair is and she will come home with a new outlook.</p>
<p>packmom- I hope so, but somehow am not too optimistic :)</p>
<p>Hopefully she will realize what a wonderful thing that she did. It’s pretty amazing that a teenager would make this choice in the first place. If she mopes, and it’s more than temporary, take her to volunteer at the local children’s hospital. She will quickly remember what motivated her to do it, and she will willingly embrace her new look!</p>
<p>Oh my gosh, what a wonderful thing she has done! Our friend’s daughter was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 10 and she received a wig. This will mean so much to someone who is battling the devastation of cancer!!! Every single day someone will have an easier time facing their day, and there are lots of tough days with cancer. Tell her how proud we all of her!!! I’m sure it’s aggravating that she can’t pull it back, and she’s having some second thoughts, but I’m guessing she will always look back on donating her hair with pride and good feeling once some time has passed.</p>
<p>My daughter has also donated her hair twice, the second time to Pantene Beautiful Lengths (she has an aunt who is battling breast cancer and their wigs go to women so it felt like a nice tie-in).</p>
<p>momlove,
she does feel good about doing it and I am sure in the next few days she will reconcile herself to how she looks. I am proud of her for having done this again.</p>
<p>looked up the 1099 on the one my d donated to; and it turns out they only were able to make less than ten wigs for cancer patients. wonder where the rest of the hair went.</p>
<p>A little known fact of Locks of Love is that the wigs don’t go to kids with cancer, they go to kids with alopecia. Not saying that that is a bad thing (far from it) but it is just good information to have before making a donation of hair or money. Some of the biggest beefs about them are that while a lot of people believe their hair is going to help little kids with cancer, much of it is sold and not made into wigs at all…which means you didn’t have to cut off your years of hard work after all; you could’ve just donated money. A lot of people don’t realize that their hair will end up on some rich chick’s head instead of a little kid’s, and there have been people here who have been quite ****ed to know the truth after losing their hard-earned hair to LoL. I’ve also heard something about how families often do have to pay for the wigs; they don’t all get them for free like LoL says they do. LoL has also openly said they have enough hair but haven’t stopped campaigning for hair donations or told people to donate money instead. Also, they don’t meet all of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for a good charity.</p>
<p>Something I’ve always wondered about them is giving real hair wigs to kids when synthetic wigs are less expensive (kids grow, after all) and easier to care for (for a kid, that’s a big deal). </p>
<p>Here is an article that was in the NY Times a few years ago about the subject: [Lather</a>, Rinse, Donate - New York Times](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/fashion/06locks.html?ex=1346731200&en=e18aafdebe572e0c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss]Lather”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/fashion/06locks.html?ex=1346731200&en=e18aafdebe572e0c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)</p>
<p>Help her find a way to tie her hair or at least some of it. I remember doing that when I was a teen and my hairstylist cut too much.
Barrettes, bobby pins and hairbands help while the hair grows back.</p>
<p>For future reference- Wigs 4 Kids goes directly to cancer kids rather than some being sold for profit. </p>
<p>Anyway, she’ll get over it quickly. I promise. I have donated myself 4 times (number 5 is coming up quickly). You always have remorse for the first week or so and then you just kind of forget about it. If it makes her feel any better, some organizations will send you pictures of the kids that may have received her hair.</p>
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<p>Synthetic hair doesn’t match the quality of real hair. It is usually pretty easy to tell who has real hair and who has synthetic hair. Just not an art we have mastered yet, I’m afraid.</p>
<p>What a wonderful gesture - you have much to be proud of.</p>
<p>My D wore her hair up in a ponytail/bun her entire HS career. In fact, whenever she wore it down we would take a double look as if we didn’t recognize her. Now that she is in college it’s always down. I think that’s the trend for most college women. </p>
<p>Hair always grows back, and she probably will be okay sooner than you think. Next year’s Senior Prom will probably be the next ‘hair conscience’ moment she will have (having hair long enough for the up-do).</p>
<p>You raised a great kid!</p>
<p>I’m trying to convince my S to donate his hair, he’s got plenty of length! </p>
<p>Reading alopecia comment, I was reminded of a family I know. The older D wears wigs, but the younger D has always just gone around completely bald. I’ve always admired her courage and attitude.</p>
<p>She is the one who came up with Locks of Love, it looks like if she ever does it again I will suggest another organization. Not going to let her know of some of this info (at least not NOW).
She is a good kid and I am hoping that in a week or so she will have accepted things, and as her hair grows back we will definitely invest in bobby pins etc to pin it back so that she can put it in a pony tail.
0@B@C- I am always in shock if I see my D without her pony tail. And her hair is so spectacular when it is down and long, copper colored curls Takes my breath away!</p>
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<p>Your D is my twin!! Pretty much the only time I wore my hair down in HS was for choir concerts and other formal functions. Now that I’m in college I wear my hair down MUCH more.</p>
<p>OP–your daughter will be just fine. 
Like others have said, hair grows back, and there are ways to pull the hair away from the face. My favorite are those circular headbands that you pull over your whole head, then pull half back like a headband. They were very popular in the 90’s, but I still wear them all the time.</p>