Father, son cut off locks to help children who have lost hair
Published: December 10, 2005
Todd and Jonathan Hanson were the last customers Monday night for Jane Stevens at Tangles salon in downtown Nevada. Thirteen-year-old Jonathan took off his stocking cap and raked his fingers through his long dark hair. He kept looking at a picture he’d torn out of a magazine of a man with sleekly-styled short dark hair.
Todd, Jonathan’s dad, had pictures, too. Todd had photographs of himself that were taken a few years ago before he grew his hair out.
“A friend of mine suggested that I let my hair grow,” Todd said, reaching up and touching the long wavy hair that he usually keeps pulled back. “I’m 42, and I’ve got a full head of hair, so I figured I might as well do it while I can.”
He started letting it grow in October of 2003. After his hair had grown for a couple months, Hanson decided to let it get longer so he could donate it to Locks of Love.
Early in 2005, Todd’s son Jonathan decided to join his dad in the cause. “Jonathan’s hair grew faster than mine,” he said.
“I can’t wait to get it cut off,” Jonathan said as he looked at himself in the mirror of Tangles’ waiting area. “I’m glad it’s going to a good cause.”
Jonathan is active in sports, having played defensive end on the football team this year and now playing on the basketball team. He and his parents have lived in Nevada for about four years.
A seventh-grader at Nevada Middle School, Jonathan said his friends would be surprised Tuesday when he went to school without his long hair. “My friends keep telling me I need to get a haircut,” he said with a smile. Jonathan was the first of the duo to sit down in the stylist’s chair.
Stevens sectioned off 10 pieces of Jonathan’s hair, creating 10 ponytails all over his head. “This is how I should have worn my hair to school today,” he laughed.
With razor sharp scissors, Stevens carefully cut each ponytail off just under the rubber band and place the lock on the counter. When she was done a row of 10 ponytails were gathered up and put into a plastic bag. She fine-tuned Jonathan’s style with scissors, a razor and added a little gel so it looked just like the magazine photo the teenager had brought with him.
Stevens went through the same process with Todd, ending up with eight curlier ponytails that also went into the bag. Hanson will send the hair to Locks of Love as a donation.
Locks of Love is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children 18 years and younger suffering from long-term medical hair loss. The organization meets a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. The prostheses the group provides help to restore self-esteem and confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers.
The Hansons are especially sensitive to medical hair loss after recently learning that Todd’s father, Darrell Wiegand of Walcott, has been diagnosed with cancer. “He had cancer 30 years ago, and now he has it again,” Todd said.
Of course, the Hanson’s hair won’t go to their father and grandfather, but they were happy to know it would go to a good cause.
One man Todd works with grows his hair out over and over, donating it to Locks of Love each time. Hanson said he did not plan to do that.
“It feels good to have it short,” Todd said after the haircut was over. He said his wife, Stana, would be glad to have it short again, too.
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