Thanksgiving inspires sixth-grader to cut 10 inches off her mane for Locks of Love
Published: November 21, 2006
Kelly Walsh wasn’t sure how she wanted her hair cut when she arrived for her appointment Monday evening at Ulta salon in Naperville. After all, it had been four years since her hair had seen scissors.
“I just want it cut 10 inches,” said Kelly, 12, when stylist Barbara Haas put the question to her.
Why 10 inches?
Well, Kelly, a sixth-grader at Jefferson Junior High School, wanted to donate her hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit organization that provides wigs for children who have developed long-term medical hair loss. To do so, she had to part with at least 10 inches of her thick, brown mane. [The Complete Book Of Hair Loss Answers: Your Comprehensive Guide To The Latest And Best Techniques]
“It’s really long,” Haas said as she ran her fingers through it, preparing ponytails she would snip in a matter of seconds.
Over the weekend, Kelly told her grandmother, Noreen Malone, “to get out the ruler to see if it’s long enough.” Once they determined she could spare 10 inches of hair and it would still stretch below her shoulder, they decided to book an appointment with Haas.
“She never faltered,” Malone said. “It has been her goal for a couple of years.”
It took no time at all for Haas to clip Kelly’s 10-inch donation. And it took no time at all for Alex Ahlman, Kelly’s friend who accompanied her to the appointment for “moral support,” to speak her mind.
“Look at it,” said Alex of Kelly’s new look. “It’s so pretty.”
Over the next hour, Haas washed, trimmed, styled, ironed and dried Kelly’s hair with Alex, also a sixth-grader at Jefferson, alongside her.
“I like how it goes in the back,” Alex said of the layers. “It’s shorter than the front.”
In the end, Kelly had the same opinion of her new ‘do.
“Oh yeah, I love it,” she said.
And hopefully someone else will love her haircut, too.
Locks of Love uses donated hair to create high-quality hair prosthetics for children who have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The wigs help restore their self-esteem. [Alopecia Areata: Understanding and Coping with Hair Loss]
Kelly said it’s no coincidence she decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love this week.
“It’s around Thanksgiving, and I’m really thankful for my hair,” she said. “And I was thinking about all of the kids that don’t have any hair, and I decided I should donate 10 inches of mine.”
As for what her peers will think of the shorter style, Kelly said she was eager to find out.
“I want to show all of my friends because I didn’t tell anybody I was going to do this,” she said. “I only told Alex.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: