new thread
The good news is that a 14 year old boy grew his hair to waist length. He seemed to be accepted by his school and by his friends.
Bad news is that he cut it.
But I still see it as a positive because a 14 year old male was able to have such long hair!
Is that a case of having it to or needed to. We hear so much of these so called cancer charities!
It was to a good cause that he cut his hair
At least at he can start growing back his hair, it'll be like a whole new beginning for him.
Patrick_R
Growing it back takes way too long. There is a much better way to do this, and you get to keep your hair.
Saved shed hair could be donated without the need to cut it at all. There is enough hair in this image to make 2 wigs. It is from about 5 years of shedding. I would be willing to donate this, and I would not have to cut my hair at all.
It would take time to sort and lay all the strands facing the right way, but volunteers make these wigs. Twenty or thirty volunteers could all sit at a big table and lay the strands facing the right way. It would take several hours to make a wig this way, but no one would have to be scalped in the process.
Scott
You could always spin it into yarn and knit yourself a stocking cap, then it could go back on your head.
Kevin
Good job I've taken up knitting classes eh!
Looks like I'll have to re-learn how to use my "Spinning Wheel." (Haven't used it since 1881..........but it STILL works!)
Hmm... the few charities taking hair donations all want it in a pony-tail. I wonder how long it would take to rearrange?
This page: http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=5357 says you can get £3-£5 per ounce (27g?) for hair, yet a real-hair wig costs £1000! I think that suggests there's no shortage of hair.
In theory in sounds like a good idea, it is done in India, but it is very labour intensive. If you'd arrange all the shed hairs in the same direction (this is necesairy othewise the wig will tangle imediately, due to the scales on each hair) you could use it.
But not all hairs are useful, when they use hair for wig making by using someone's cut off hair, they will first comb out all the shorter hairs (they get trown away) and the result is that the ponytail will be much thinner. Shed hairs are also of different lenghts, and not all are useful. If this would be done by volunteers yes it could be done, but to get enough hair of useful lenght would cost so many hours of work, it's just easier for these companies to get donations. Unfortunately it's not all charity; they sell a lot of the donated hair as well, and not all kids with cancers can get a wig for free ...
VERY GOOD AND HAPPY NEWS INDEED! :-)
But WORST of all is that he cut it for Locks of Love. Barely anything I have ever heard about this organization was not good. Solution? Real easy. Why not simply give a cash donation if one feels they MUST give locks of Love anything? There are some mighty fine wigs out there..........so why cut ones own hair for the stunt of the whole thing?
Yes, it was refreshing to know that some youngers out there are not forced to cut their hair. Looks as if his friends are mourning its loss more than the 14 year old at the moment.
The article never mentioned Locks Of Love. It just referred to cutting for cancer patients. There are many organizations today that collect hair for charity. But I agree with you!
Locks of Love does not make wigs for cancer patients. Most cancer patients just wear a scarf or hat, because they anticipate their hair growing back at some point. Locks of Love wigs are for permanant hair loss situations. But news articles always say it's for cancer patients.
"Wigs for Kids" is even worse than "Locks of Love".
Thanks for this info of other organizations than Locks of Love Mick. I wasn't aware of those.
Justin~
A "dodgy" charity" LOL!
That's right. What a "scam!"
Well an interesting article but certainly a sad day for longhaired supporters.Hair charities like the one he donated to are suspect in my opinion as I think if they feel the need to make wigs for cancer patients why not use synthetic hair instead of the real thing.I mean its only temporary anyway so why ask longhairs to give up their manes.It seems too that its always the male longhairs who are given the guilt trip into donating anyway even though some women may cut some of their length but usually not totally short.Oh well too bad as the kid looked awesome with his great hair.
Mark
The wigs are not for cancer patients...they are for alopecia patients. The vast majority of cancer patients prefer a scarf or a hat, since they know their own hair will grow back.
But the media always says it's for cancer, because it gets people's attention and sympathy.
I wonder if fewer people would donate if they knew it was alopecia patients instead of cancer?
Keep in mind that this boy grew his hair with the intention of cutting it. I opine that this is a different situation from someone who grew their hair for themselves, but thinks they are making a sacrafice for someone else by cutting it. These people have been mislead.
I still think it's great that this boy was able to grow his hair so long with no mention of hassle from school or friends.
The article stated that he started growing to donate it, so it was his own choise.
Plus he's very young he can always grow it back, a lot of people haven't grown their hair out at that age.
Im not all that impressed, because he didn't really want long hair.
I have only known one person who donated hair, and that was a woman who cut back approximately tailbone length hair to shoulder length. I knew about LoL, but didn't tell her because I thought it would just upset her/make trouble. I didn't know in advance that she was going to cut it, however. It was one of those things where you ask someone why they cut their hair and then they tell you they donated it.
To be fair, the LoL people say that they would rather get money donations, but that donating hair makes the donors feel good, which is probably true. The only problem is that I have heard of longhairs of both genders that have been badgered by third parties who think they should donate their hair.
Perhaps there is one other problem. The media always falsely report that it is for cancer, and LoL don't actively do anything to correct this false impression.