Students show they care
Published: July 2, 2007
A sea of girls and women in green T-shirts filled Seton High School’s gym Monday.
As the crowd counted down the last 10 seconds on a scoreboard, the girls seated in rows on the floor bowed their heads. Other volunteers stood behind them with scissors at the ready.
A few girls wiped away tears as their hair - at least 8 inches long - was cut and captured in plastic bags and placed in laundry baskets.
Their shorn hair then was styled by volunteer stylists stationed throughout the school.
About 200 Seton High School students cut their hair in support of a national campaign to help make free wigs for women undergoing cancer treatment.
The students - about one-third of the student body - staff, alumni and friends are donating their ponytails in the largest cutting moment in the history of the Pantene Beautiful Lengths campaign.
The most in-demand stylist was Tippi Shorter, a Pantene “celebrity” stylist who has cut singer Beyonce’s hair. Lucky girls with a golden ticket sat in her chair, including Charlotte Otto’s granddaughter, Jessica Perkins, who is 6. Otto is a Procter & Gamble executive; Pantene is a P&G product.
Melissa Casagrande, 18, a senior from Price Hill, jumped up and down when she found a golden ticket in her bag, guaranteeing her a spot in Shorter’s chair.
“I’m excited,” said Casagrande, who two years ago donated her dark brown hair to Locks of Love, a similar charity that contributes to wigs for young cancer patients. “I wasn’t planning on it at first, but I decided to do it again. … This was a lot different because I got to do it with my school.”
Since last July, the Beautiful Lengths effort has made 14,000 hair donations.
Seton’s classes were suspended for the day, as stylists used hallways and classrooms as makeshift salons. A Mass was celebrated in support of cancer survivors.
Created in partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation, Pantene Beautiful Lengths encourages people to grow, cut and donate their healthy hair to make free wigs for women who have lost their hair to cancer treatment.
According to event sponsors, studies by the American Cancer Society have revealed that 58 percent of women consider hair loss the worst side effect when undergoing chemotherapy; 8 percent risk avoiding potentially life-saving treatment altogether because of their fear of hair loss.
Hair donations are made into wigs by campaign partner HairUWear, which produces real-hair wigs and extensions. The finished wigs are distributed at no cost to cancer patients through the American Cancer Society.
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