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| Locks of Love Donations Are Gifts from the Heart December 2006
Getting a haircut is a routine chore for most of us, but for those considering shedding Rapunzel-like tresses, it is also a golden opportunity to make a difference in a child's life. The first time Bryn Dews, a MITRE human factors engineer, cut her lengthy locks in the late 1980s, she held onto the 14-inch braid for over a year, searching for a way to donate it to someone making wigs for people with medical hair loss. Her search was unsuccessful, but a few years later, her long hair was back and she was again looking for a way to donate it. "By chance, the woman cutting my hair happened to be taking a friend with breast cancer to get a wig the next day. She took my hair with her and gave it to the people who make the wigs," explains Dews. "Once I knew it was possible to donate, I decided to start growing my hair, chopping it, and donating it." The donation process became easier for Dews in 2000 when she learned about Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that provides high quality hair prosthetics to children with medical hair loss. The hairpieces help children undergoing chemotherapy or with conditions like alopecia areata, which has no known cure, to face the world and their peers with self-esteem and confidence. Locks of Love relies on volunteer donations because "using real human hair is preferable to synthetic because it doesn't get static, mat, or look fake," says Dews. It takes six to 10 donations to make a single hairpiece. Dews is not alone in her devotion to donating her fast-growing mane. A number of other MITRE employees have also gone under the shears to benefit the kids helped by Locks of Love. When Erin Kelly, a lead assistant at MITRE, cut the long hair she had been growing for a decade, she was able to send a 16-inch ponytail to Locks of Love. She is currently in the process of growing her hair in preparation for another donation. "My vanity isn't worth somebody else going through life without something that we take for granted," she says. "These kids have lost their hair because of an illness, and you're giving them something that makes them feel like they fit in. As you get older, I think you're able to embrace your uniqueness, but when you're a kid, you just want to be the same as everybody else.” The kids are able to choose the color and length of the hair they receive. While they are between the ages of 6 and 18, they can reapply every 18 months for a new hairpiece for a total of up to five. Locks of Love provides children under six with synthetic hairpieces because they outgrow them so quickly. Each hair in a Locks of Love prosthetic is hand-injected with a special needle into a surgical silicone skullcap that matches the child's skin tone and is custom-fitted to the child's head. Manufacturing a single hairpiece takes eight to 10 weeks and is an expensive process that Locks of Love funds with the monetary donations it receives. Custom hairpieces like those supplied to children by Locks of Love have retail price tags that range from $3,500 to $6,000. Even men can get in on the act by donating. Locks of Love accepts hair from men and women, young and old, and needs all colors and types of hair. Last winter Stephen Dyer, a MITRE senior programmer/analyst, donated his hair, which he had been growing since 2001. He says, "Growing my hair was an experiment for me, and I figured somebody should get some good out of it. And the woman who cut my hair was pleased. She said that not very many people donate curly hair." Adults who are going gray can also donate, since all hair is hand separated strand by strand during the manufacturing process. However, it's children who want to help other children that provide the bulk of Locks of Love's donations. Children like nine-year-old Megan Mahoney, whose parents Carole, a software systems engineer, and Brian, a software application development engineer, both work at MITRE. Carole Mahoney explains, "My daughters and I read some stories in the American Girl magazine about girls donating to Locks of Love and the wonderful wigs that they make for the children who need them. Megan's hair was extremely long, and she thought it was a very neat thing to do. But that sense of identity—she's the girl with the long hair—is really hard to give up." Megan decided to let her hair grow even more so that she could cut off enough to donate and still have long hair. Her mother says, "She was pretty excited to go and contribute her hair. It turned something that can be a potentially traumatic event for a little girl—getting her hair cut—into something very positive." Megan is proud of the certificate that Locks of Love sent her, and while her twin sister Caitlin's hair wasn't quite long enough to donate, Caitlin is considering growing it and making a donation as well. All of the MITRE donors noted that when friends and coworkers comment on their new haircuts, it provides the perfect opportunity to educate others about Locks of Love. "People definitely notice when I cut my hair, and it's easy for me to say, 'Don't you know you can do this too?'" explains Dews. "Since I started telling people about it, two or three people I know have had children who decided to cut their hair and donate it." To be donated, hair must be in a braid or ponytail and at least 10 inches in length. While donors can send in hair themselves, any salon with a Locks of Love decal in its window collects donations for the organization and gives the donor a free haircut. "It makes you feel good to know that it didn't just go in the trash, that someone is really going to be happy when they find out that they're getting what they've been waiting for. I figure if I can save one kid a little bit of grief on the playground, then that's a good thing," says Kelly. Page last updated: December 28, 2006 | Top of page |
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