Locks of Love began as a non-profit organization in December 1987 and over the past 21 years has provided wigs to over 2,000 children with medical conditions that cause them to lose their hair. According to the organization's Web site, "our mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children." Recipients must be under 18 and have long-term medical hair loss to be eligible.
Senior Laura Osborne organized a donation event at A Great Escape Spalon in Farmville on Friday, April 3, that brought out 11 hair donors. Osborne first heard about the Locks of Love program several years ago and decided to get involved. "I started growing my hair out for the first time in ninth grade. [The] first time I chopped it off was junior year of high school, and ever since then, every other year or so, I just keep growing my hair out, chopping it off and donating it," she said.
The idea of organizing a donation and fundraising event came from Osborne's participation in pageants. When she started competing, Osborne decided to make Locks of Love her platform. She said, "A lot of the girls had already done something really awesome to promote their platforms, and I didn't really have a platform, I didn't know what I was going to do . so then I decided that I needed to something really major to benefit them [Locks of Love] other than chopping my hair off every other year."
In order to donate, donors must have 10 or more inches of hair. A Great Escape offered free haircuts to anyone donating the required 10 inches and offered $10 haircuts for everyone else, with all of the hair and proceeds going to Locks of Love. Jennifer Sheeler, lecturer in English, was one of the 11 who donated hair last Friday. She had been planning to donate for some time and heard about through e-mail. "It's a good cause, and a free haircut. I had long hair, and it didn't seem like it costs me anything," Sheeler said. Sheeler donated 11 inches of hair at Friday's event.
Along with Sheeler and Osborne, who donated for the third time, nine others donated hair Friday, and over two dozen more came out to support the event. According to Osborne, a total of 30 people came, with 19 donating money for haircuts and three donating both money and hair. Although final totals are not yet known, the event raised several hundred dollars and over 100 inches of hair for Locks of Love.
