I didn’t have much to start with

I donated some of my hair.

If you saw my Facebook post, you already know this. I thought I would go into more detail here, in case you were curious or if you ever thought about donating hair yourself.

Here are my answers to the basic questions:

Who? – Me!

Why? – Even before the pandemic, I was once again without a trusted barber. I have slight barber fear, and even though all I need is a trim, I do want someone to do a good job, i.e., a haircut better than what I can do at home. Since I’m paying someone to cut my hair, I don’t think this is asking too much. 

So my hair was getting long, and then the lockdown happened. At that point, I decided I would grow my hair out and donate it. I’ve always wanted to donate my hair, and this seemed the perfect time to do it.

When? – I knew I was going to cut my hair before my race in June, but my long hair was driving me crazy. I have very thin hair, and the ponytail I kept my hair in didn’t look good and got tangled in my hoodie. The moment I thought my hair was long enough, I was ready.

How? – I did a lot of research on Google and found three companies that donated wigs to children who needed one. One had a very complicated submission process, and another seemed a little sketchy.

I decided to go with Locks of Love. Here is why:

  • I’d heard of them already.
  • They were the only one with clear instructions that INCLUDED telling me that I didn’t have to go to a salon to cut my hair. I could do it at home. (I didn’t know that!)
  • Some of the articles didn’t like Locks of Love because they said LoL sold some of the wigs. That isn’t true. They do sell hair that they don’t use in the wigs (I assume that will be some of my hair.) I approve of doing this. I’d rather my unusable hair made them some money to offset costs.
  • Their instructions were easy to follow.

Where? – I followed the instructions and cut my hair off in my own bathroom. Actually, Hubby cut my hair, which was really sweet because he prefers my hair long.

What? – The instructions said to make several small ponytails instead of one large ponytail. I have such thin hair that I only needed to make two. I bought little rubber bands to do this, and they were horrible. Once they were on my hair, the only way to get them out was to cut them, so I was committed to doing this.

I measured my ponytails before Hubby cut them, and they measured eleven inches. They had to be more than ten inches, so it was go time.

It took less than a minute to go from long hair to short hair. My new do isn’t great, but I don’t care; my old style wasn’t great either.

My hair ended up being twelve inches long. I mailed it in a padded envelope and couldn’t be happier.

Well, that was a long way of saying that I cut my hair and donated it. I hope I can keep it short from now on. I may enlist Hubby the next time I need a haircut. He did a good job.