Florence girls donate hair to Locks of Love
Published: January 3, 2006
Eight-year-old Hannah Kersey of Darlington stood facing a large mirror, anxiously waiting for Spa de Vie stylist Becky Cooper to cut off 10 inches of her waist-long, wavy blonde hair.
This was no ordinary haircut, though. Hannah’s shorn hair wouldn’t merely be swept up and thrown into the trash can. Instead, Hannah was donating her hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that provides real hairpieces to children age 18 and younger who have lost their hair because of a medical condition or illness.
“She’s been so excited,” Hannah’s mother, Jamie Kersey, said. “This is the first time we’ve ever had it cut, really cut.”
Kersey said the St. John’s Elementary second-grader had to ask a few times before her parents (her father being the main source of resistance) finally gave in. [The Values Book : Teaching Sixteen Basic Values to Young Children]
“Her daddy didn’t want her to have it cut, but I said we’d have at least 10 inches cut so we could donate it, make it for a good cause,” Kersey said.
Once the decision had been made to cut Hannah’s hair, Kersey used the Internet to find a charitable organization to which they could donate the hair.
She ultimately settled on Locks of Love because the donated hair goes to children.
According to the Web site, www.locksoflove.org, the organization started in 1997, and has since provided hairpieces to more than a thousand financially disadvantaged children.
The minimum length of donated hair used in hair pieces is 10 inches, as most of the recipients are girls, shorter lengths are accepted but most often are sold to help offset the costs of manufacturing the pieces. But just one donated 10-inch ponytail isn’t enough. Each hair piece is made up of between 6 to 10 individual ponytails.
Locks of Love estimates more than 80 percent of its donors are children, as evidenced by the fact that Hannah isn’t the only child in the Pee Dee to donate to the organization recently. [Children as Volunteers: Preparing for Community Service]
Best friends Lacey Willard and Kailee Beck, both 5, and Lacey’s sister Lesley, 7, all had significant amounts of hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love.
Kailee said she wanted to donate her hair “because we wanted the people who don’t have hair to have hair.”
Lacey added, “We don’t want people to go around looking bald.”
The Royall Elementary kindergartners found out about Locks of Love at school, and immediately began lobbying their parents for hair cuts. Lacey said she had to ask her parents five times before they relented.
“We thought awhile. We thought it was a one-time thing and then they’d forget it,” said Missie Willard, Lesley’s and Lacey’s mom. “We were backing out, but they were adamant.”
Kailee was further determined to donate her hair to Locks of Love because of a family member who was just rediagnosed with breast cancer. “My aunt has bald hair,” she said.
“She took Kailee and showed her her hair,” said Melody Beck, Kailee’s mom. “It made Kailee more adamant about helping kids who had no hair like her aunt.”
Once the parents were on board with the girls’ plan, Lacey set out to enlist her older sister, Lesley, a second-grader at Royall.
“I looked on the Internet and we saw some people who didn’t have any hair and we saw them before and after,” Lesley said. The pictures convinced her to have her hair cut, as well.
The stylists at Mane Attraction cut 11 inches from Kailee’s hair, 7 inches from Lacey’s hair and 10 inches from Lesley’s hair, all of which was mailed to Locks of Love. All three of the girls said they’re pleased with their shorter tresses, and especially with the reason behind their new dos.
“When it grows back to here, I’ll cut it again,” said Kailee, pointing to her waist. Added Lacey, “Mine, too.”
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